


Surface Flames

by nishiki



Series: The kids are not alright [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bisexual Diego Hargreeves, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Diego Hargreeves-centric, Drug Addict Klaus Hargreeves, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Gen, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Mentions of Prostitution, No Apocalypse (Umbrella Academy), Prostitution, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Stuttering Diego Hargreeves, minor Eudora Patch/Diego Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-05-31 04:56:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19418929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nishiki/pseuds/nishiki
Summary: Five times Diego helps Klaus and one time he doesn't get there in time.





	1. Ben

There was a silence that could not be described by simple words hanging over the ancient house. An old house such as theirs always seemed to harbor some sort of otherworldly silence or presence. Words could not be applied to it. It was the shadows that clung just so much tighter to the walls, perhaps. It was the sounds of the wooden beams shifting when the house would turn over in its sleep. It was the screeching of the old pipes buried deep within the walls. The history of this house was etched into its walls, it lived in its broken concrete. Walking through a house like this was like walking through quicksand at times. And sometimes, when the silence got too loud, one might almost be able to hear the bricks whispering to each other. 

That was what Ben would have said. That was how Ben would have described it. Diego was far more pragmatic than this. Half the time he was happy if he could get out a sentence without stuttering. Benny wasn’t here anymore, though. He was gone. He was gone and would not come back. Maybe that explained the silence that lay over the entire house these days.

Ben’s death weighed heavily on all of them. The one moment he had been there with them, the next he had been gone. Just … gone. Without a reason, without logical sense. Much the same as Five. The only difference was that they had a body to bury this time around. This time, there was no question about whether their brother was dead or not.

The house felt more like a graveyard, in the days that followed Ben’s funeral. Life in the academy had never been a party but these days no one really spoke. Their father had given them a few days off from training and thus, Diego hardly saw his siblings anymore. Everyone seemed scooped up in their rooms. 

It was only a matter of time now until all of this would break apart. 

It was only the question of who would be the first to leave the family home and thus start the inevitable downfall of the Umbrella Academy. He had always thought Allison would be the first to leave to go to Hollywood - maybe Vanya because she couldn't stand it anymore to be left out of everything. He himself wanted out, sure enough, but a part of him still clung to the whole idea, the concept of the Umbrella Academy. A part of him still wanted to be a superhero and help people in need. A part of him didn't want to go or want the academy to fall apart. 

A part of him was afraid to move on from this. After all, what was he without his knives? Who was he behind his domino mask? What would he do out there in the real world anyway? In fact, the sheer prospect of leaving this house and setting foot into the real world was suddenly terrifying. They had been out there, of course. They had been out there for their missions but actually leaving the academy to live out there was something very different, right? 

As Diego wandered the dimly lit corridors of the academy on his way to his bedroom on this rainy day in early September, he stopped at Ben’s door for just a moment. It was stupid, yes. He wouldn't find Benny in there and yet he could not help himself. He just had to look for himself again. And again and again. And every time he hoped that he would find Ben sitting on his bed with one of his many books and every time he would get disappointed again and again. He was torturing himself. 

Once more, Diego opened the door to Ben’s room and once more he was greeted with silence - only broken by the constant drumming of the rain against the closed window. Ben’s room felt like a tomb. It had not been touched since his death and still looked like he had left it. The same posters of weird sci-fi creatures on the wall, the same books tightly stacked on his bookshelves. His black headphones and mp3-player were still lying on his nightstand and a comic resting on his pillow. He had meant to finish reading it the night that had followed their last mission so that Diego could read it after him. His uniform lay neatly folded on the foot of his bed. Everything looked like Ben would just come back any second now. Diego didn't dare walk into the room. He knew that none of them dared to walk into Ben’s room ever. 

Their eighteenth birthday was only a month away and this time it would only be five of them to celebrate it. Five. They had lost two siblings and they would never get one of them back. 

»What are you doing?« He had been so lost in his own head that he had not even heard how Luther approached him from the other end of the corridor. 

»Nothing.« Diego shrugged and closed the door to Ben’s room again as if he had been caught jerking off or looking at porn. Fucking hell, he had just looked in his dead brother’s room! Was it too much to ask that he would be left alone in his mourning for god's sake? 

Luther stopped a few feet away from him and his face told Diego clear as daylight that he was urging to say something cruel or mean to start a fight with Diego because he was the easiest prey in this regard. Instead, he squared his jaw and put his hands in his pockets. »Dad wants us all to come downstairs. I already told the girls. Klaus wouldn't open his door. Go fetch him.«

»Why don't you fetch him, _Number One_?« He had never been a fan of being ordered around by his brother. Luther was just so bossy sometimes. 

»Because you know how he is with me.« Luther then shrugged - an admission of defeat, at least a little bit. »You are the only one he listens to anyway.« That was not the reason why Luther wouldn't try it again to grab Klaus. They all knew that Klaus was blaming Luther for Ben’s death. He didn't really mean it. He was just hurt and in pain and didn't know where to go with this hurt. That was it. Klaus was not the type of person who would ever blame any of his siblings for something so horrible. That just wasn’t like him. 

Diego decided not to pick a fight with his brother. He was lacking the energy to do so. He decided that he would much rather take Luther’s admission of failure as a win in his book instead because Luther was right. He was the only person Klaus was listening to these days - since Ben’s death. None of them would say this, though. 

»Yeah … sure. Okay.« He waved Luther off at last and turned around. He just felt so drained and tired these days. He didn't have the energy to care enough to be angry or pick fights with his brother. Odd. very, very odd.

Maybe it was better not to dwell on it too much. Maybe he should better focus on the task at hand and that was getting Klaus out of his room and probably out of his haze. He was presumably either drunk or high - or both. 

It was no secret that the fourth sibling was taking drugs and abusing alcohol. They had known for a long time now that this was Klaus’ way of dulling his senses to the ghosts that were doubtlessly always hovering around him. Luther and Allison never understood why. To them, it seemed unfathomable that Klaus was not able to just shut off his power when he was not using it as they could. And although Diego would never claim to know or understand what it was like for Klaus, he thought that he might have a good enough idea. Good enough, at least, not to judge his brother if he would find him in a cloud of smoke right now. After all, their brother had just died. 

If there had ever been a time to get high it was now. 

He watched Luther retreat slowly and paused to just look at his brother’s back for a moment. Only then, as Luther disappeared behind the next corner, Diego moved on with his task. Klaus’ room was directly next to his, sandwiched in between Vanya’s room and Diego’s room. Klaus liked to complain how his room was too small and didn't give him enough space for all the crap he had collected over the course of his almost eighteen years on this planet. 

He was not wrong. Klaus’ had a lot of stuff. His room was the most interesting too. It was just as chaotic and messy as he was and his personality seemed to ooze out of every item he had accumulated. The whole room just seemed to scream _Klaus_ \- in a good way, in a _Klaus_ way.

Being in Klaus’ room was comforting, in a way. His brother was so unapologetically himself against all odds, against whatever bullshit their father put on him. He was just Klaus and he couldn't care less what people would think of the way he dressed whenever he would sneak out of the house. Diego had always envied his brother for that level of confidence he possessed in himself and in who he was. Diego had never been blessed with this level of confidence. Of course, not. After all, he had spent all his life competing with one of his brothers and being stripped bare of any kind of identity. He had been a member of a team, nothing more nothing less. Not Diego Hargreeves but Number Two. 

As he knocked on Klaus’ door there was no answer but that was not much of a surprise. Klaus liked to listen to music a lot to ignore the screaming ghosts. He probably didn't hear him. Yet, he tried again. »Klaus! It's me, Diego! Open up!«

Again he was met with silence but still, he was not concerned. This was just Klaus. Maybe he was asleep, maybe he was listening to music. He would need to pull him out whatever state he was in. That was usually Diego’s job anyway. As he twisted the doorknob he realized soon that Klaus had not locked the room so whatever he was doing in there, it would be his own fault if he would get caught doing it by any of his siblings. 

He didn't catch his brother jerking off to some magazine that was showcasing naked men - again - though. Instead, he found his brother on the ground next to a puddle of vomit, lying face down on one of the carpets that were cushioning his hardwood floor. The world seemed to stop turning. Time stopped. His heart ceased its beating and his lungs wouldn't will with air anymore. He had no clue how much time passed until he sprung into motion again. It might have been years.

»Klaus!« He heard someone else yell and yet he was completely alone with his brother. It was just him and Klaus right now. Klaus, who was lying still - completely still - on the carpet. Klaus who was not moving. Klaus who was not breathing. He stumbled forward and fell to his knees, taking a trembling hold of Klaus’ left shoulder to give him a good shake but nothing came of it. His brother refused to move. »Klaus! Klaus, come on, Man!« 

He turned him around and found his eyes closed and his mouth agape. He was so pale. So fucking pale. Sick was still clinging to his face. Had he drunk too much? Had he taken too much? Both? Had his drugs been laced with something? As Diego pressed trembling fingers into Klaus’ neck to find his pulse, he found it weak, barely moving against his fingers but still there. _Still there._

In a matter of seconds, Diego had scooped his brother up and ran out of the room with him. Klaus seemed to weigh nothing at all. He was so light. He had always been lanky and thin. Allison liked to make fun of him, saying that he looked like a daddy longlegs. Now, however, he seemed to weight just nothing. As if he wasn’t even a real person. As if what little Klaus had weight had just been his soul and that part of him - the most important part of him - had vacated his body now. He ran without thinking.

»Mom!« Diego started screaming - screeching as if he was yet again a kid and found a big ass spider in his room - as he came across the stairs. He could hear his siblings chatting downstairs, waiting for Klaus and Diego so that this family meeting could properly begin. »Mom! Help!« 

The urgency in his voice seemed to have reached the group downstairs as well because shortly thereafter, pandemonium broke loose. His siblings ran from the sitting room into the foyer just as Diego spotted his mother walking down the corridor towards him, her pink circle skirt swinging from one side to the other without urgency.

»What is the meaning of this, Number Two?« His father's voice mixed in with the panicked chatter of the teenagers downstairs as he arrived in the foyer behind Allison. 

»K-Klaus!« Diego gasped as if it wasn't obvious. »H-He… H-He-«

»Take your time, Diego dear.« Mom had finally reached him and how the fuck could she be so calm? Klaus was dying! How could she smile so serenely? Yet, she already put her hand on Klaus’ forehead to read his vitals.

»H-He is not b-breathing!« Diego finally bit out and he could feel panicked sobs threatening to break loose. He swallowed them like bile as his siblings downstairs seemed to erupt in even greater panic. 

»Get him to medical bay immediately.« Reginald ordered from downstairs even though he was already on his way up. As Luther wanted to follow him, his face pale and shocked out of his mind, he turned towards him. »You stay down here, children. You will wait for my return. Number Two! What are you waiting for?« 

※※※※※※※

Hours seemed to have passed until the chaos died down. The only indicator that Klaus was not dead was the steadily beeping heart monitor standing by his side as his brother rested on the examination table in med bay. Diego watched how his mother was finishing up her work and looked away discreetly as she poked a needle into Klaus’ arm connecting him to the IV she had set up for him. 

He had overdosed, that much was clear now. He had taken in an almost lethal cocktail of whiskey from their father’s bar downstairs and heroin. _Heroin_. Dear God. Diego had known that Klaus was taking all kinds of crap, though he had believed that it was mostly weed or ecstasy. Not that those weren’t bad enough already but heroin?

Luther had found the syringe in Klaus’ room after their father had at last ordered Luther to go there and see if he could find the cause for this. He had brought the syringe to med bay for Grace to examine and looked the entire time as if he wanted either to throw up or punch their unconscious brother. In spite of how Luther acted most of the time, he still cared. He still loved Klaus. Diego could tell by the way Luther had stared at their brother before being shooed out of the room again. It had been visible in the way his brows had furrowed and in the tightness of his jaw. Klaus was their little brother. They might be all the same age but Klaus was still their little brother. 

The drug had not been laced with anything, as Diego had feared. It had just been too much. Needless to say, his brother had already had quite the amount of painkillers in his system before he had introduced the drug to the mix. 

His father had stood by and watched Grace and Pogo taking care of Klaus with disgust and anger clearly visible on his face. He had left a few minutes ago after it was clear that Klaus would survive. Diego, however, couldn't bring himself to follow his father as he was certainly expected to. Instead, he walked over to the table hesitantly to take a hold of Klaus’ hand then. It was so cold to the touch. Then again, Klaus had always had cold hands. He always seemed to be freezing. 

»He will pull through.« Grace smiled at him as she disposed of her gloves and then brushed her fingers through Diego's hair. »Thanks to you. But he needs lots of rest now. A few minutes later, and we wouldn't have been able to save him.« 

»Can I stay with him?«

»Your father expects you downstairs. It is important.«

»I don't care.« 

Nothing could be more important than him staying with his brother who almost died. Nothing. Grace still smiled as she drove caressing fingers over his cheek. »I will watch over him and you go downstairs. Don't make your father even angrier than he already is. And after that, you can come back here and stay with him.« 

Of course, he didn't like that idea. He couldn't stand the thought of leaving Klaus behind like this. Yet, Diego finally let go of his brother’s hand again and left after another second of hesitation. He found the rest of his family sitting in the living room. Actually sitting for once. Usually, their father demanded them to stand like soldiers whenever he had something to tell them but today it seemed they were allowed to sit. Perhaps because of the shock of what happened. Still, Diego had no idea why it had happened.

Klaus was not stupid - far from it, actually. He knew how much he could take without overdosing. He was not so stupid to accidentally overdose. Had this been planned? Had he tried to kill himself? The thought was too horrifying to actually pursue it any further now. He couldn't deal with it as he sat down on the last free spot next to Vanya. He would sit next to Klaus whenever he could. 

»Now that we are finally all gathered here« Reginald began with a stern look at Diego. Of course, the old man would not start out asking about Klaus. Why would he? »we can begin.« 

His father didn't waste any time getting up from his armchair and clasping his hands behind his back before he started striding through the room like a peacock - as he usually did. He walked over to the fireplace above which Five’s portrait could stare down on his siblings in disdain. Diego wondered what his brother would look like today. Would he still have this arrogant twitch to his mouth? Would he still have those slightly inquisitive eyebrows? Would he still have this air of self-importance about him?

»As you all know, we buried out dear Number Six two days ago.« Klaus would have snorted at this choice of words. _As you all know_. As if they hadn't been there. As if they had not lost a sibling recently. As if the moment Ben’s casket had been lowered into the ground had not been traumatic to them. As if they didn't miss him every second of every day that Ben was not around them. The situation at home was unbearable without Ben’s calming influence. »Tomorrow we will have a little ceremony in the yard. I have commissioned a memorial for Number Six and I wish you all to attend. Number Two« He turned around sharply to face his four present children and his eyes locked on Diego right away. »I expect you to make sure that Number Four will be there as well.«

»But, Dad-«

»There is no room for discussion, Number Two. This is an order. And now you are dismissed.«

Their father left shortly after delivering his order to Diego, the siblings, however, remained seated. Only as Reginald had left, Diego jumped up to go back to Klaus right away. It was Vanya, though, who grabbed his wrist to stop him. Timid little normal Vanya who usually didn't dare speak up. »What happened earlier?« 

He pulled his wrist out of her grasp with no effort at all and though the hurt look in her brown eyes did not escape him, he couldn't care less about it right now. He wanted to go back to Klaus and make sure he was okay. A part of him urged to pay more attention to his little sister, though. he had lost Ben and Five and almost Klaus. Although Vanya and he had never gotten along, she was his sister and he loved her and he didn’t want to lose her as well. All of this was left unsaid though. 

»What do you want to know? I found him in his room. End of story.« 

»She means, what did he do?« Allison chimed in. »Did he … did he try to kill himself?«

»Of course, not!« Diego shot back in anger. Allison didn't even have the decency to squirm under his look. »Why would he do something like this?« He ignored the voice in his head that told him that he had no idea what Klaus might have wanted to do just then. He might have tried to kill himself, right? Yet, he couldn't admit this possibility to his siblings for some strange reason. He just couldn't. 

»He was … so down since Ben’s death.« Vanya tried again.

»We all have been down!«

»Yes, but not like Klaus.« Allison shrugged, as she was defending her sister. 

»Oh. come on, you guys.« Luther sighed. »I agree with Diego. He didn't try to kill himself. He just wanted attention after Ben’s death.« Diego jumped his brother before anyone could even try to react. The fight was short-lived and ended with a bloody nose for Diego and a bloody lip for Luther before Allison stepped in.

»I heard a rumor that you stopped fighting!« She all but yelled at her brothers and, sure enough, they had no other choice but to stop ripping each other apart. That didn't stop Diego from fuming, though. He was vibrating with anger, in fact. »That's enough!« Allison growled at them. »Ben died, Klaus almost died and you guys can’t think of anything better to do than bashing your fucking heads in? Really? You should be ashamed of yourself!«

»He should be ashamed of himself!« Diego shot back as he pointed one trembling finger at Luther. He was itching to throw a knife at him. »He just said that Klaus almost died because he wanted attention! Instead of just for once asking himself if our brother is alright - which he obviously isn't! He does not even stop to consider asking himself if there is anything we can do to help Klaus with all of this shit!«

»Because he does this to himself, Diego! Ben died and he didn't deserve to die and Klaus is throwing his life away! It should have been him and not Ben!« If it hadn't been for Allison keeping them from fighting, Diego would have outright stabbed Luther then and there. Instead, he clenched his fists wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand and walked around the sofa. 

»You know what? I am done with you, Luther. Fuck you.« He knew that those were not the last words he would ever say to his brother. He was not about to leave the house and never to return - not right now. But soon he would be eighteen years old and then he would grab Klaus and high-tail it out of here. He would … he would apply to the police academy, try to become a proper cop who could do actual good in the world and he would help his brother battle his demons. And as soon as he would have left this house with his brother, Luther and the others … Well, they might as well be strangers. 

With those thoughts and a throbbing nose, Diego rushed up the stairs again and back to medical bay where Klaus was hopefully still lying on the table waiting for his return. 

It was silly to fear for his brother’s well-being when his mother was right there with him. He knew how silly he was behaving and yet, he couldn't help it. He had lost two brothers. He couldn't … He just could not lose one more. And not like this. He would forever have the image of Klaus lying in his own sick ingrained in his brain anyway. There was no way around this. Seeing his brother like this would from now on fuel his deepest, darkest nightmares, followed shortly by Ben’s death.

Ben … Poor Ben. He still saw his corpse sometimes when he would close his eyes. The shock on his pale face, the horror in his eyes as the monster had ripped out of him and effectively tore him in two. He still heard Klaus’ blood-curdling scream as he had to witness the scene up close. He remembered the aftermath of all of this. He remembered finding Klaus at 3 AM sitting in the bathtub, scrubbing feverishly at his own skin until it was red and raw as he tried to get the blood off that only he could still see clinging to his skin. And there was Luther claiming Klaus just wanted attention. Luther, who had forced Ben into the situation that had cost him his life. Luther who had not been right next to Ben when it happened. 

Fuck Luther.

As he reached the med bay and opened the door after a little knock, he found Klaus where he left him with his Mom sitting next to him, brushing her fingers through his curls like she would do when Klaus was sick. Klaus liked to rest his head on her lap and wail in his misfortune of being sick and Mom would just pat his hair and take his dramatics with a soft smile. Come to think of it, Klaus was always so overly dramatic with little things like a cough or an allergy or even a papercut but when it was serious he wouldn't say anything. How could Diego not have seen how seriously bad he was doing right now? 

»Hey, Mom.« He whispered as he slunk into the room. 

»Hello, Diego dear.« She smiled back. »Are you coming to stay with Klaus now? It's time for me to start preparing dinner. Oh, whatever happened to you, Darling?« 

»Yeah … Sure.« He shrugged and Grace got up from her spot next to Klaus immediately. »Nothing … Just a little nosebleed. Is he … okay?« He hated lying to his mother but he didn't want to discuss his fight with Luther now. It wasn’t important anyway. He could not keep Grace from walking over to her supplies and douse a cotton ball in disinfectant before she walked back over to him to clean off the blood from his face.

»He’s getting there. Give him a bit more time, Sweetheart.« Grace smiled as she swiped at the blood. Only as she was satisfied with her work, she threw the cotton ball away and kissed his cheek before walking past him to the open door. However, before Grace could leave, Diego turned around to her once more.

»It was an accident, right?« The question sputtered out of his mouth. »He … It was an accident. He took too much without realizing it, right? He didn't do this to himself willingly, right?«

Grace seemed confused about how to respond to his questions at first. He could see how she was calculating a response behind her eyes. Her smile dropped a little at his question though. »I have no answer to that question, Darling.« 

He nodded once more and Grace took that as her cue to leave. Suddenly, Diego was alone with his brother and although this wouldn't be much of a problem normally, now it suddenly seemed too much, too hard, too horrible. 

He bit his lip as he turned around to look at his brother again. Klaus was still lying limp on the table. It took a lot out of Diego to walk over to the table and sit down on the chair next to him. 

»Don't ever do this again, you idiot.« He mumbled quietly into the silence of the room before he grabbed his brother’s hand that was lying limp on the table. »Ben is getting a memorial tomorrow and Dad wants us all to be there. You have to be there too, you hear me? You won’t get out of this shit if I can’t.« 

He was terrified of Klaus not waking up. He was terrified that Klaus would wake up and that everything would get worse from now on for Klaus. What if he would find his brother again and again like this? What if he would be called to the hospital again and again in the future because his brother was sick, because his organs were failing him, because he had been beaten up by someone because of drugs? As long as they would stay together, Diego told himself, there was a chance that he could help Klaus get out of this mess before he would have fucked his body up completely. 

»L-Listen« He started again and clutched his hand a little tighter. »We are almost eighteen, right? We will … We will leave this house and move in together and I-I-I’ll help you kick the addiction in the butt right? Soon we will be out of this house and then everything will get better. You’ll see! We will make it out there.«

He could only hope that he would find the courage to tell Klaus all of this again when he could actually be awake to listen to him. For now, however, just sitting here and holding his hand seemed to be enough, right? Grace brought him dinner later and Diego never left his brother’s side. 

He didn't know when he had fallen asleep that night but as he woke up the next morning, Klaus was gone. And, with dread settling in his stomach, Diego knew that he wouldn't find his brother anywhere in the house. 

**-End of Chapter 1-**


	2. Patch

Living scooped up in a large mansion without much access to the outside world tended to have weird effects on the developing brain of a child. The effects on growing up surrounded only by six other children, a robot, a chimpanzee, and an eccentric billionaire posing as a father, were especially daunting on the mental and emotional development to any child. In short, it was hard to know how to get along with people that were removed from their own family when one never knew anyone outside of the family. Finding a way into the social construct of normal outside society was, in conclusion, hard. Almost impossible - at least for someone like Diego Hargreeves.

Diego had never been the most sociable person, to begin with. What other people might be lacking in physical strength, Diego Hargreeves lacked in skill when it came to social interactions. He didn't know how to talk to people, whether they were part of his family or not. The only advantage of talking to his siblings - and he believed that this was true in any normal family as well - was that he could insult them and they would still forgive him because they loved him. It was their job to love him, after all. Growing up, he had been perfectly fine shoving Luther or punching Five and the most that would have caused was a little scuffle between brothers. When seeking affection all he had needed to do was to go sit on Klaus’ back or steal Ben’s book or pester Allison and taunt her when she was doing her nails or annoy Vanya when she tried to practice her violin. The affection of his less violent siblings had always been certain - in some way or another. 

Now that he was an adult and not scooped up in that god-awful mansion anymore, however, it was difficult for him to have normal fucking conversations and behave like a normal fucking person. 

Yet, here he was now. Sitting in that bar with some of his peers from the academy. 

Diego would turn nineteen in less than a month from now. September nights were still warm but the wind already carried with it the first hint of colder nights to come. The sky above was clear and filled with a myriad of stars. It had taken him almost an entire year, after leaving the Umbrella Academy, to get into the police academy and, no, the irony didn't escape him. He had fled one academy full of rules and control to go straight into a very similar environment willingly.

Despite what he had thought, Diego had not packed up his stuff and left the moment he had turned eighteen. The first of the remaining four Hargreeves children to leave had been Vanya and Diego followed only days after. He had not seen his brother Klaus ever since that almost fatal overdose one year prior but to this day, Diego would still lie awake in bed sometimes, thinking about his lost brother, wondering how he was doing now and if he was alright or not. 

Most of last year, Diego had spent with odd jobs here and there, barely holding a one-room apartment in the shitty part of town while trying to save up for the cost his education at the police academy would swallow. It was not like Pogo had not offered to send him money every month until he would be a part of the workforce. The ape had been secretly proud of Diego’s decision to become a cop while his father had just scoffed at the idea and frowned at Diego for throwing away his life as a superhero. Diego, however, desired only to be his own man, without his father’s help or money. Whenever he had not been working his fucking ass off, however, Diego had been out there on the streets searching for his brother, trying to find at least the tiniest hint that Klaus was still alive and well. 

It was not like Diego had given up on his brother at some point. Not at all. It was just that he had grown tired of trying to find him, tired of the worry gnawing at him from deep within. Having a junkie brother was like dying a little inside every time he would hear the news of another dead drug addict that had been found in some random alley. It was like falling into a pit of panic whenever he would see an ambulance pick up some homeless guy, asking frantically how the person looked, if they had tattoos on his hands - and being relieved when it was not his brother. It was hard and even harder not to show any of this to his peers. 

At the police academy, he was just Diego. Not Number Two. Not the Kraken. He was Diego, a dude who wanted to become a cop and was a little socially awkward at times. A dude who needed to be forced to go out with his peers to have a few beers because the tight schedule of his home was still too deeply ingrained in his mind. Lights out was at 8 PM. It was almost midnight now. When he had first moved out, he had been certain that he would relish in this new freedom. That he would spend his time bar hopping and partying and doing all kinds of crazy shit just because he was finally allowed to. 

Instead, he had found a small apartment, went to work every day, came back home and was in bed at 8 PM. The rest of the time, Diego would spend worrying about his brother or if he would ever make it into the police force. Maybe, all he wanted was to make his father proud because, at the end of the day, he was still just a child that was seeking his father’s approval. He wondered if this would change someday or if he would remain Number Two forever, deep down inside. What a horrible thing to imagine. 

The only good thing about being out with the guys was Eudora Patch anyway. He would probably not have gone out with them, had it not been for Eudora. And she was the exact person Diego spent his evening staring at anyway. It was not the first time that Diego was crushing on really anyone. He had had numerous crushes growing up, whether is was on gorgeous women he could only ever see on the television whenever they had been allowed to watch TV or in Magazines. He had spent a whole summer fantasizing over the girl in the building across from the academy whose window Diego had been able to look into. In his head, he had made up a whole proper love story for the two of them - until she had come home with a boyfriend and thus broken his heart into a million tiny pieces. He had been inconsolable for two days. And his crushes had not been limited to girls either. There were numerous guys he had had crushes on in the past, including Klaus - even though he would never admit to that.

Eudora was something different, though. After he had left home, he had had his fair share of experiences with girls whenever his tight schedule had allowed it. Eudora was the first woman, however, he looked at and thought that they might be able to be more than just a one-time thing. She was beautiful but not dangerously so. She was kind and brave. Despite all the shit she had seen in the past, she still seemed to see the good in everyone no matter what. Last summer, her father had been killed on duty. He had been a cop and now Eudora was even more dead set on becoming a cop herself. She had seen the danger first-hand and yet she was determined to run headfirst into it.

So, tonight he was doing his best to be sociable and likable in hopes of managing to woo Eudora as the night progressed. When they finally left the bar around midnight, Diego was already a bit tipsy and so were the rest of their group. They needed to head back now to the academy anyway and so the group was stumbling down the street when Diego saw the police car further down the road. It was probably just the instinct of a policeman in training that forced Diego to move closer to the scene instead of following his peers.

»Diego?« Eudora called out while the rest of the group walked down an alley - a shortcut to the academy.

»I just wanna have a quick look. Go on without me!« There was no explanation for why he felt the need to go to that police car. He blamed his curiosity as a budding police officer. Deep down, Diego knew that this was not at all the reason why he went down there. Deep down, he knew what compelled him to walk down the street and what caused him even to ignore Eudora calling after him. It was the same urge and magnetic pull that had forced him in the past to roam the streets looking for his brother Klaus, whom he had last seen a year ago.

For all he knew, his brother might be dead by now. Or he could have fallen into circumstances that were impossible for him to escape from. It was a habit he might never be able to shake. As he reached the police car, he saw that not far off to the side an ambulance had stopped as well and two paramedics were currently about to deliver a man on a stretcher to the back of the ambulance. Diego, as he stopped by the police car, only saw a pale limp hand dangling down from the stretcher.

»What happened?« He asked one of the officers overlooking the scene.

»Dead junkie.« The man shrugged. »Got a call from some homeless guy a few minutes ago. The paramedics couldn't do anything for that guy, though.« The man sounded almost detached from the situation. He was clearly a man who was used to situations like this by now. A man hardened and jaded by years and years of this crap. He wondered if he would turn out like this as well. He wondered if he would ever not flinch when he would hear about a dead junkie. 

»Awful.« Diego muttered quietly at this and earned himself a surprised look from the cop which Diego refused to think about too much because it was just then that he focused back on the man on the stretcher. He couldn't see his face, just a mop of curly dark hair and his heart stopped at the sight. It was inevitable. »Klaus« He muttered without realizing it. It was more like a release of breath, shaky and thin.

»You know this man?« The officer asked but Diego was already walking past him and towards the ambulance like in a trance. »Hey!« The officer called again just as Diego reached the paramedics. He wanted to call out for them and tell them that he needed to look at the man they had just put in the back of the ambulance but no words would come out as fear held his heart in a tight vice. He stumbled over to the ambulance and was grabbed by the cop who had followed him hastily and just then, the spell was broken.

»Please! I just have to know if-«

»Diego, what are you doing?« He should have known that Eudora would follow him. Her arrival quickly served to defuse the situation a bit but Diego still refused to step away.

»I just want to know if-« He had never talked that much about his family to Eudora or any of the others, to begin with. They knew who he was, of course, but he had stayed away from that topic altogether. »I need to know if that's my brother…« 

It wasn’t his brother. The man in the back of the ambulance was pale as a ghost with a mop of curly dark hair but one look at his face and Diego could breathe a sigh of relief. This man had nothing in common with his brother’s delicate features. Klaus had always been pretty in a weird way. This man had nothing of it. His nose was too long and too crooked, his lips stretched too thin. It wasn’t Klaus. _It wasn’t Klaus._

»What was that all about?« Eudora later asked as they walked away from the scene. In the end, the cop and even the paramedics had shown great empathy for him as he had loosely explained his fear of the dead guy being his long lost brother. Diego had pushed his hands deep into the pockets of his dark pants for comfort - or so that Eudora wouldn't see how badly he was trembling. »You owe it to me.« 

»I thought he was my brother.« Diego replied after a moment or two with a sigh, as if that much had not been obvious already. Eudora never failed to show her compassion as she put a comforting hand on his arm. 

When he had first gotten into the police academy and met all those other people, word quickly got around who Diego was and though some of them made fun of him, Eudora had quickly eased his mind about it. _»They are just teasing you a bit.«_ She had told him. _»After all, most of us grew up with you guys as our idols. For some of us, the Umbrella Academy is the reason why we are here now to become crime fighters of our own.«_

A short while after first befriending Eudora, he had found that old metal lunchbox in her room. She had blushed and tried to hide it under a pile of clothes. The damage had been done though and Diego had spent the rest of the day teasing her about it. He had asked her which one of them was her favorite while growing up and Eudora had quickly taken him down a peck by telling him that she had always liked Ben the most. 

»Which one?« Eudora asked with a teasing little twinkle in her eyes.

»Klaus.« Diego shrugged. Until now, he had avoided talking about his family to really anyone he had met so far since leaving the academy. He wanted to leave the Umbrella Academy behind him and just be his own unique person. That was hard though with the Hargreeves name attached to him. »He left the academy a year ago … Haven’t heard of him since.«

»Klaus?« Eudora echoed and he could see the wheels turn in her head. »Ah, that spooky boy! I remember him … He was quite the flirt as I recall.« 

»He was.« Diego huffed and rolled his eyes. Eudora had a way to defuse him whenever he was about to explode. It was weird. Klaus had been able to do this as well. »I mean he probably still is. He and Allison were constantly on magazine covers. He was as much of a stage hog as she was. A real showman. He loved the limelight.« 

»He also is an addict.« Eudora mumbled. After Diego’s little stunt right now, it was probably too easy to deduce this truth about his messed up family.

»Yeah, he is…« He whispered then and stopped in his tracks as they reached the corner behind which their peers had disappeared a while ago. »He almost died a year ago … After Ben- After-« There was again her hand on his arm - a signal that she understood him without Diego actually having to speak. She knew that he had a hard time with words sometimes. »We were always close, Klaus and I … But I couldn't do anything about it. We all saw how bad he got. It's the ghosts, you know? He was always so afraid of them. The drugs silenced them, he told me once.« 

»You know … when I was little-«

»And a _fan_.«

»And a fan, I never stopped to consider how it really was to deal with those powers on a day to day basis. I mean, I remember the girls in my school being all head over heels for Klaus, right? He was good looking and oh so mysterious with his ghost powers. Neither they nor I ever thought what it was like.« Eudora admitted with a small smile. Diego, on the other hand, could almost see how Eudora’s friend had been gushing over Klaus on the covers of magazines. Maybe some of them had been gushing over him as well. Then again, he had been a very awkward kid. »So what now? What do you want to do next?«

He paused to think about this question even though he already knew the answer deep down inside him. »I want to find him.« 

There was no question whether or not he wanted to go alone. Eudora could read him like a book even though he didn't like to admit it even to himself. And so, Eudora allowed him to roam the nightly city while she went back to the academy. There was no need to explain to her why he needed to do this alone. 

Searching for his brother in this city was like searching for a needle in a haystack. He didn't know where Klaus would usually hang out. He didn't even know if Klaus was still roaming this city or if he had moved on to other places. He might as well be living in Las Vegas now for all Diego knew. And yet, a part of him hoped at least that his brother would have let him now in some way. He was losing hope the longer he was roaming around from one dump to the next, passing by homeless people and junkies the deeper and deeper he ventured into the depths of depravity. 

It was three in the morning when Diego was about to give up. He had exhausted every single little place of which he knew junkies liked to hang out at and shaken off many advances of various desperate people male and female alike who promised him a good time for just a little cash - just enough for food or their next hit. 

He already turned away to walk back home to the academy when he came across a struggling couple in the same alley he was walking through. Well, he assumed at least they were a couple. Maybe they were a hooker and a John. Who was he to judge anyway?

However, the closer he came, the clearer it became to Diego that the struggle was pretty much one-sided and that it was not at all some kind of lover’s quarrel at all. 

»Let me go!« The smaller of the two men yelled with a fury. »I told you no!« 

And that really was all it took for Diego to barge in. It was not his problem, of course, but he had been raised a superhero and he blamed his upbringing for the need to always get involved when he saw injustice. 

»You fucking bitch, I paid for you!« 

Diego had bridged the distance between him and the aggressive John in a matter of seconds before he pulled the man back by the back of his collar. The man had no chance to react before Diego threw him into a wall and pressed his forearm into his neck. »He said no, you fucking asshole!« Diego growled.

»And who are you?« The man spat after his initial shock of being attacked like this wore off. »His pimp or something?«

He would have expected the other man, the smaller one, to run off into the night now that he had been saved. This was usually how those things went, at least by his experience. However, before Diego could fully grasp everything that was happening around him, the other man who still stood at the side and watched the scene unfold, suddenly chimed up. His voice was thin and small but Diego recognized it right away.

»Diego?« 

※※※※※※※

As he sat in the diner with his brother, he felt like he had entered into another world. He had walked through a mirror into another dimension as Alice had. His brother was a scrawny, thin, tattered mess. His hair was longer, much longer than he remembered it to look like a year ago. He was thinner than he had been a year ago even though that seemed virtually impossible considering how thin his brother had always been. Now, Diego was looking at a skeleton in ragged clothes and with purple bruises blossoming on his left cheek. Klaus had dark circles underneath his eyes and his lips were dry and brittle. 

He looked like all the ghosts he usually saw. 

»Good to see you.« The words came out awkward and wrong and just plain weird. He blamed the alcohol in his system. Unlike Klaus, Diego had never been very fond of alcohol in any way. Truth be told, he was a lightweight when it came to holding his beer. Finding Klaus in that alley, he had forgotten all about his peers from the academy or about Eudora and his conquest for her heart. Klaus had been trembling like a leaf during a storm and how could he have turned away from this? The real problem now was, however, that Diego had never been good with words. 

He didn't know what to say half the time. He couldn't articulate how relieved he was to be sitting across from his brother now - despite how he had found him. He refused to think about the fact that he had found his brother with a man who had paid for his services. He didn't want to think about his brother in such a way. He didn't want to think about how his brother Klaus was apparently selling his body for drugs and money. His brother who he had always been the closest to in their fucked up family. His brother who had come into his bed every other night to seek comfort from the ghosts. _Klaus_ , who was currently picking on his burger. 

As thin as he was, he had expected his brother to wolf the food down right then and there but instead he was shoving it around aimlessly.

»Thanks.« Klaus muttered as he finally managed to shove a fry into his mouth. Even that seemed to take a lot out of him and Diego refused to wonder when Klaus had last eaten anything. The waitress gave them funny looks from the counter but Diego couldn't care less. Klaus just looked horrible, his pupils blown wide and his skin sweaty. He was missing his usual bravado, the wide smiles, and twinkling eyes. 

Silence settled over them with all its glorious awkwardness as neither one of them had an inkling of what to say to the other. He wanted to ask Klaus how he was doing but that seemed stupid. It was obvious how Klaus was doing. He wanted to yell at him for disappearing the way he had one year ago. He wanted to take Klaus with him to the academy so that his brother would be safe at least for this night. He wanted to ask him why he had left the academy and not waited for Diego. They could have gone together. They should have gone together. 

»Remember when we were like … ten?« Klaus suddenly chimed up but his eyes were still dark and focused on the plate in front of him. »Dad was on some trip and we were all alone at home with Mom and Pogo. We snuck out that night. You, me and Ben. We wanted to stay out the whole night and go on an adventure. We only made it to the next street corner and then we were too terrified of the outside world. I remember that this nice cop lady who came across the shop took us back home.«

»Klaus-«

»I still think the outside world is terrifying. Sometimes I just want to go back home and act as if nothing ever happened, go back to the way things used to be. Sometimes I even want the training back and Dad’s stupid orders. I didn't realize it back then but at home, everything was easier.«

Diego reached over the table to place his hand on top of his brother’s left hand that way lying uselessly on the tabletop. He didn't even waste a second thought about it. He just acted as his brother’s voice sounded so thin and small. »Come with me tonight.«

There was so much he wanted to tell his brother. _Let me take care of you. Let me protect you. Let me help you. I can't stand not knowing if you are safe. I can't stand not knowing where you are._ And yet none of these things escaped his mouth. He didn't know how to say these things. He didn't know how to open up to him. And still, Klaus seemed able to understand him regardless. His eyes were shiny as if with unshed tears as he looked up from his untouched burger at Diego before he plastered one more of his crooked smiles onto his pale face.

»Like the old times?«

»Like the old times.« 

**-End of Chapter 2-**


	3. Grant

Shame burned hot in Diego's ears as he walked through the front gate of the police academy, a large brick stone building tucked neatly right in the middle of a busy block of government facilities in the heart of the city. The disappointment he experienced in himself was worse, though. He had managed to make it far longer than he had expected but, at last, the day had come where the school had had enough of him. The worst part about all of this was that there was no one to blame but himself. He had been the one to fuck this up. He had been the one who couldn't just take a stupid joke and instead went to beat someone up. 

By now he should have been used to being the butt of everyone’s joke. 

»Happy birthday!« 

Of course, of all possible days, his brother had to show up at the gates of the police academy on the exact same day that Diego was kicked out. Klaus didn't waste time to jump him and throw his arms around him as Diego stepped through the gate and almost made him drop his duffel bag in the process. Under different circumstances, Diego would have reciprocated the hug but now there was so much going through his mind. And yes, it was his birthday. He just turned nineteen and, after mere weeks in the academy, he had managed to get his ass thrown out and now here was his brother Klaus in all his messy glory.

»Heading out to have a nice little birthday party?« Klaus pointed at Diego’s duffle bag as he pulled away from him at last. 

»What do you want Klaus?«

His brother’s face fell ever so slightly and under different circumstances, Diego might have found it in himself to care. Right now, however, Klaus’ presence right here and now filled him with anger. His brother usually only ever showed up if he wanted something and it was quite clear to him that this was true right now as well. 

»I just wanted to spend my birthday with my favorite sibling!« Klaus opted to laugh instead of showing that Diego’s reaction did, in fact, hurt him. »Is that really so much to ask? I mean … It's our birthday. I miss you.«

Klaus was very good at disarming people with his charms and those damn green puppy eyes that never failed to remind Diego of the huge crush he once had on his brother. Sometimes he wondered if Klaus knew about that time and was using his knowledge against Diego. It didn't work this time though. Klaus’ eyes were wild and his fingers trembling as he started playing around with his jacket that was already way too thin for the time of year. It was not exactly cold during the day yet but the nights certainly started to grow unpleasant. 

Klaus definitely was not here to spent their birthday together. He might be able to fool someone like Luther or Vanya with a statement such as this but Diego knew him better than this. He could tell that there was something else going on and he really was not in the mood to deal with this now. 

»Klaus, you have one minute to tell me what's up or otherwise I will kick your ass, you hear me?« 

His brother put up his hands in a placating manner that never quite worked on Diego anyway. »Shh shh shh!« He made and placed his hands flat on Diego’s chest as if he was nothing but a wild animal and Klaus the only person in the world not afraid to touch said wild animal. »You would never hurt your favorite brother on his birthday.«

»Since it's also my birthday: Yes, I would.« Diego groaned and took both of Klaus' wrists sharply to give them a little twist just to make his brother wince. »So spit it out already, Dingus.«

»You are hurting my fragile little heart with insults such as this, you know?«

»Klaus!«

»Okay, okay!« His brother freed his hands from Diego and took a step back waving them in the air like jazz hands. To get rid of the trembling, Diego thought. »Okay, listen … I didn't want to come … It's … I just need … I hoped … Geez, that is hard-«

»You need money.« Diego deadpanned and his heart dropped a bit as the reality sunk in. Yes, he had known that Klaus was not really here to spend time with him but it hurt that he came to him on their birthday under this pretense just to ask for money. »For drugs?«

Klaus winced a bit at that. »It sounds horrible when you say it like this, you know?«

»That's why I’m saying it like this!« Diego shot back in anger. »Really, Klaus, you are unbelievable, you know that?« 

»Well, I have been called that before, so-«

»Is this all just a big joke to you?« There was no reason to freak out like this on his brother. No reason at all and yet he could not help it as he pushed Klaus back so hard that his brother almost fell on his ass in the process. 

»Diego-«

»No, you’re done talking!« Diego all but shouted now and he didn't care that people on the other side of the street were looking at him funny already. »You have the audacity to come here, to _this_ place to ask me for drug money on our birthday?« He pushed him again and this time Klaus would have actually fallen down but Diego grabbed him by the collar of his tattered jacket instead. »You just take and take and take, right? You could have at least asked how I was doing! But no, you just come to take money from me for your fucking habit again! You are a fucking leech, Klaus! And I am done with this fucking crap!«

»Gee! Okay! Okay, okay! Sorry for stopping by, I’ll never ask you for anything ever again in my life, you happy now?« Klaus shot back snarkily as he tried to dislodge Diego's hands from his collar but all it served to do was make Diego hold on tighter to his brother for some odd reason.

»No, it's not okay! I was kicked out today! Last time I saw you, you were about to get fucking raped in some dirty alley because your John didn't want to pay you! And then you fucking left as if nothing happened! And now you are here again to ask me for money and help and you don't care about anyone but yourself!« 

»You’ve got kicked out?« This time Klaus seemed honestly surprised and- Was that concern in his brother’s wild eyes? He seemed honestly taken aback by this new revelation as if it concerned him personally. »What? Why?«

»Does not matter.« Diego shrugged him off even though they both knew that it mattered a whole damn much. It should not matter to Klaus, though. »And since I am now homeless and have to find a motel or something, I cannot help you with your money problems. So, just go, okay?« He said as he finally let go of his brother and started walking past him. 

Klaus would not be Klaus, however, if he would take this so easily. Of course, his brother would follow him despite Diego pushing him around. »Okay, you wanna hear the truth?«

»Nope!«

»I need the money to pay off a guy.« This finally made Diego stop and turn around. He was not exactly surprised. Yet, it was the first time that Klaus came to him and not wanted money for himself. 

»Come again?«

Klaus took a deep sigh and dropped his head. Now that was the real deal. Nobody knew better than Diego that all this flamboyant persona of Klaus was nothing but a front, usually. This sheepish look, the nervous fingers playing with the hem of his jacket, the twitchy brows, that was Klaus Hargreeves. »I owe money to that dude.« He finally confessed with another sigh and, as he looked up again at Diego, his eyes seemed less wild and more sincere now. »He hooked me up with drugs a few times when I was low on cash. He’s not gay though, otherwise, we would have found an arrangement, I guess.«

He really didn't want to hear anything about any of Kaus’ _arrangements_. He was his brother, after all. He rather not think about how his brother was selling his body for drugs or money to strangers or shady guys in back alleys.

»Anyway, today he came to collect and he … Well, let's just say it won’t be pleasant if I don't have the money for him by tomorrow.« 

It was not necessary anyway that Klaus would lose another word about it. Diego could very well imagine what a guy like this would do to his brother. The best case scenario would be if the dude would just beat him up but since this was about money, beating Klaus up would not deliver any money to him either. 

»How much?« Klaus squirmed under his scrutiny and to keep him from running, Diego placed a hand tightly around his left shoulder. »How much, Number Four?«

»3,000 Dollar.« He finally muttered under his breath.

»3,000?« Diego shot back and couldn't help but push his brother again only to smack the back of his head for good measure. »Are you fucking kidding me, Klaus? I don't have 3,000 Dollars lying around to pay off some shady drug dealer! What did you think how much I keep in my socks, Dude? How did you think you would be able to get your hands on so much money?«

»You keep money in your socks? Must run in the family!« Klaus joked but at the dark and gloomy look Diego shot him, he sighed. »Well … I planned on breaking into the academy and pawn off a bunch of shit…« 

»And you still came to me first?«

»I didn't know where else to go, Dee!« It almost broke his heart to hear this. His brother just turned nineteen and except Diego, he had nowhere else to turn to. No friends who could help him out, no loving family, no home. Just a scrawny junkie and his equally messed up and broken brother. 

»Fuck, Klaus…« He sighed at last and drove a hand through his short hair. For a moment, he just stood there, contemplating what to do next but the answer lay in front of him clearly. There really was only one thing to do. »What's his name?«

»Grant.«

»Where do we find this _Grant_?« He then groaned. »Honestly, how could you ever get indebted by a guy with such a name?« 

Finding _Grant_ was easy enough. As they were roaming the city, Diego couldn't quite begin to tell why he was doing this for Klaus. He should just allow him to reap the rewards for his stupidity and go his own way. They were strangers, after all. Sure they had grown up together but were never meant to be brothers or siblings. They were child soldiers and nothing else. Yet, Diego could not stand the thought of Klaus being whored out by a guy named Grant to pay off his debts. He knew very well that this would never stop. When a guy like this first had you in his clutches he never let go of you again. His brother would not become one of those poor souls. It was something different when Klaus sold himself on his own terms and a whole different can of worms when someone sold him to other guys. Neither one was okay but Diego would beat the fucking crap out of any guy who wanted to hurt his brother in such a way. 

And this Grant-guy. Well, he was out of luck that Klaus had come to him today after he had been kicked out of the academy. 

He left it to Klaus to track down his dealer and when they found him, Grant was sitting in some parking lot on the hood of his car, a red Mustang, in front of a club that was pretty much vibrating with life and music. Partygoers were streaming in and out of the building, laughing or stumbling - drunk off their asses for the most part. Grant, meanwhile seemed to take a break from his night job as a drug dealer as he puffed out a cloud of smoke from the cigarette between his lips. 

He didn't look like your typical shady asshole pimp, no gold teeth or some ugly ass grill in his mouth. He did not look like someone called Grant either. He looked like a Billy. The boy next door, the cute football player in your average high school teen romance movie. He was a tall white dude with dark blonde hair and looked, shockingly enough, like your average Joe Schmoe. There was nothing special about him at all. 

_That’s the problem_ , Diego thought as he remembered his short-lived training at the police academy. This was the type of guy women fell for when he was doing his nice guy spiel. This was the guy who had an all too easy time wrapping young unassuming girls around his finger to throw them to the wolves later. Guys like him, the boys next door, they were the real threat. They were the Ted Bundys of the world. They charmed people until they would get what they want because serial killers, psychopaths or rapists never look like the monsters that they are deep inside. Grant was probably not even his real name. He could almost hear him promise Klaus that _‘No, Baby, you don't need to pay right away. Of course, you can pay me back later. Sure, we’ll find a way’._

And his brother, poor naive Klaus, was always so starved for attention and desperate for anyone to be just a little bit kind and nice to him, had lapped it all up from the floor. Fucking disgusting piece of shit. 

If he had not been angry before seeing this douchebag with his douchebag car smoking his douchebag cigarette with a content grin on his douchebag face, he would certainly have gotten angry now. Diego didn't need much more than what his own head could provide him in terms of figuring out how all of this might have gone down. As Grant took notice of Klaus and Diego approach across the parking lot, he jumped off the hood of his car and gave a small wave at Klaus. 

»There you are, Sunshine!« He called and his smile sure as hell was friendly enough. »Who’s your friend? Your new sugar daddy?« 

He could feel Klaus looking at him in concern but he didn't return his gaze. Instead, he motioned for Klaus to stay back as he kept walking towards Grant. »I’m his brother.« And even a douchebag like Grant immediately realized that he had decided to fuck with the wrong scrawny junkie. 

※※※※※※※

» _I’m his brother!_ « Klaus yelled at the top of his lungs and bumped his fist in the air before practically jumping on Diego as a new burst of energy hit him. Diego almost lost his footing at this but kept running through dingy fucking alleys with his brother by his side. »That was legendary, Dee!« 

He couldn't help the small grin that tugged on the corners of his mouths but tried to play it cool immediately. He had just beaten up some fucking asshole dealer in the middle of some parking lot behind a seedy club because said dealer would have probably tried pimping his brother out to god knows who in the not so distant future. _Grant_ would have sold his little brother to anyone willing to pay for him until there was nothing left of Klaus anymore, until he would be killed or kill himself or however else he would have maybe died because of this. This really was nothing to laugh about. His knuckles still hurt. They were bloody and raw and poor old Grant would probably think twice now to talk to Klaus ever again. 

Still, the moment someone had called the cops and an ambulance, Diego had grabbed Klaus by the hand and the brothers had high-tailed it out of there. They only stopped when Klaus couldn't keep up anymore. His brother bent in half, putting his hands on his thighs as he leaned forward coughing and wheezing. They were near the harbor now and in the distance, he could see the small stretch of beach.

He really needed a place to stay for the night. He needed to find a motel room he could afford for a few days and he needed to buy food - for him and Klaus. No way he would allow his brother to roam the street again without him. 

»Where are we going now? Party? I know a few places.« 

Once more in this night, he smacked his brother on the back of his head. »The party’s over for you, Baby.« He sighed before he pointed towards a liquor store down the road. »I have a better idea.«

Not too long after, they sat side by side in the sand on the deserted beach that was littered with cans of beer and all kinds of garbage. Both of them were nursing their second beer just staring at the ocean as waves were crashing against the shoreline with new found vigor. The first autumn storms would only add to the ocean’s fury soon enough. Diego had always felt close to the sea. In a way, it seemed natural considering his powers. 

Beside him, Klaus took another swig from his bottle before he laid down on his back, one arm behind his head to look at a clear starry sky. Because of the light pollution of the city, it was hard to see any stars, though. Not for the first time Diego wished to be somewhere far away from the city. Living in the mountains, perhaps, or in the countryside near a lake.

»You haven’t told me yet why you were kicked out of the academy.« Klaus mused but didn't look at Diego at all. For a moment, he wanted to say something witty to keep him quiet. Instead, he emptied his bottle and laid down next to his scrawny little brother. He enjoyed the slight buzz the beer already provided while Klaus seemed still quite sober. Of course, his brother had had more time and experience to build up a much higher tolerance while Diego had never been much of a fan of alcohol, to begin with. It dulled the senses too much but that seemed to be exactly what Klaus was going for, right? Well, they still had four more beers to kill before morning. 

»I broke someone’s jaw today.«

»Ouch.« Klaus huffed and smacked his hand lazily against Diego’s chest. »Taking you are not talking about Grant here. Two broken jaws in one day, though? Color me impressed. So, what did the other guy do to deserve this patented Diego Hargreeves treatment?« 

Diego almost chuckled but opted for kicking Klaus’ leg instead. The chuckle that escaped Klaus told him that he understood the sentiment. »He always tried picking fights with me. You know, with the name _Hargreeves_ attached to you people talk.«

»He recognized you.«

»They all did. It wasn't so bad at first. A few jokes here and there, nothing I wouldn't be able to handle and all in good fun too. It was fine. I have thicker skin than that.« Klaus gave a small snort that Diego rewarded only by kicking him harder this time. »But this guy … He really annoyed the shit out of me. And today … He took it too far.«

»What did he say?« 

Diego sighed once more. »Well, he was one of the few people that saw you sneak out of my room the other night.«

»When you kidnapped me and forced me to follow you to your stinky tiny room at the academy.« Klaus gave a mock little sniffle.

»When I rescued an ungrateful little bitch from being raped in an alley, yes. Apparently, he recognized you. You gave him a new kind of ammunition against me, I guess. He thought it was funny what became of you, you know? Tried to hurt me in using you against me, tried to hurt my rep. Tried to anger me when making jokes about you. And then he made a joke about Ben and- Well, he can’t tell any more stupid jokes for the next eight weeks. But since I threw the first punch and since I have misbehaved before, they kicked me out right away.«

»You? _Misbehaving?_ « Klaus chuckled, apparently completely unfazed by the fact that people were making fun of him to get under Diego’s skin. Then again, that was not a new development. Diego had always been fiercely protective of his family and Klaus in particular. They had always been close. The kind of being close that makes you beat your sibling for shits and giggles. The type of being close that makes you scream and shout at your siblings and call them dirty names just to let them snuggle under your blanket when they come into your room at night. 

»They said I have a problem with authority.« 

» _You?_ « Klaus tried to sound scandalized but started laughing instead and it was that what cracked Diego up too. Suddenly, he felt like they were children again and alone in his room under the cover of darkness making fun of Luther. The whole situation was so utterly absurd. He had just beaten up some random drug dealer and had been kicked out of the police academy. Now he was homeless and lying with his equally homeless brother in the dirty sand of an even dirtier beach drinking cheap disgusting beer. 

»Best birthday ever.« Klaus mumbled quietly after the laughing fit finally ebbed off.

»Best birthday ever.« Diego agreed with a hum.

**-End of Chapter 3-**


	4. Tuna

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Mentions of rape

It wasn't much. Certainly not a real home. It was what he had, though. The boiler room was a little daunting. He had his bed set up in a corner and wanted to set up a curtain for a little bit of additional privacy. _Bed_ was actually a very generous description of what he had there. It was pretty much just an old worn-down mattress on old wooden pallets that Al still had in the storage. It was better than sleeping on the ground, he assumed. Meeting Al and starting his training here at the gym had been a blessing in disguise a few months ago. First, Al had been just your stereotypical gruff old guy with a boxing gym but after he had realized that Diego was pretty much homeless, he had given him a job as the janitor and allowed him to live in the boiler room. The pay wasn’t great which was why Diego was currently sitting on his bed patching up his knitted sweater for the umpteenth time.

This night the city seemed quiet. The police radio on his bedside table - an old crate - had been silent this entire time. He had gotten this thing from the army shop and ever since it served as a companion to Diego’s true calling as a vigilante. His vigilante work was only one excuse for the police radio, though. And it was the excuse he was going for most times. 

It had been months since he had last seen his brother Klaus. He showed up every now and then completely out of the blue and mostly pressed for cash and even though Diego hated himself for giving in, he would give his brother what he wanted and let him go again. Giving him cash for his drugs was better than dealing with the constant fear of Klaus being pimped out by some asshole named Grant. 

He was twenty-three by now and his life somewhat stable. Eudora had graduated from the academy at the top of her class a while ago and was a cop at the local police department now. Of course, she was always keen on giving him a hard time whenever she would catch him at a crime scene. Their romance had been very short-lived after Diego had first managed to woo her. 

He wasn’t surprised either. It had been only a matter of time until she would realize who he truly was and how messed up he was deep down inside. Even though Diego getting kicked out of the academy a few years ago had put a damper to their relationship back then, the killing blow had been delivered by everyday life and the stresses that came with that. The truth was, and Diego was now able to see that, that they were inherently different people with inherently different moral compasses. 

They tried to remain friends and they somewhat succeeded but now that she was a cop, she had an image to maintain and could not be openly friends with that weird vigilante dude in the domino mask who infiltrated their crime scenes all the fucking time.

Well, wasn’t his fault that he was better at their job than the actual police, right? 

He glanced at his alarm clock as he did the last stitch on his sweater with a frown. He really wasn't nearly as good as his mum in patching up his clothes but it was enough. It had to be enough. He would never freely set a foot into that house again, after all. No matter how much he missed his mother. It was half-past midnight and the radio had not given so much as a peep. The worst that had been going on tonight had been a domestic dispute two hours ago. 

Maybe he should just go to sleep. Then again, there was certainly no harm in just going for a walk, right? And if he would, by chance, stop some thief from thieving … Well, that would just be luck then. In the spur of the moment, Diego quickly pulled his freshly fixed sweater over his head, fastened his harness around his body, grabbed his keys and left the boiler room.

This late at night, the gym was completely empty and silent. Other people would find this scary, he assumed but Diego was used to the silence and the darkness surrounding him as he strolled through the gym. In fact, there was something oddly comforting about it to Diego. Maybe it was because he had grown up with six other children in a house that seemed too big and too small all at the same time. Being completely alone here held a calmness and a comfort that he had never known growing up with all those other crazy superpowered kids around. At the same time, he found it impossible to deny that he sometimes missed the hustle and bustle of the academy and his siblings running around like maniacs.

As he finally left the gym through the backdoor, he didn't expect to almost stumble over someone sitting on the ground right next to the door on the ground. »Fuck, man!« He blurted out as he caught his footing. His left foot had caught on the coat of the man sitting on the ground who now gave a small grunt in response of being jostled. He had probably been sleeping. Some drunkard or junkie sleeping off his high in some random alley. 

The person on the ground gave another noise that Diego couldn't quite discern. The voice, however, was something he had heard before. And he had heard those grunting sounds before as well. »Klaus?« 

Behind him, the back door to the gym was still open. In the alley behind the gym was no hint of any light source, so, Diego quickly reached inside and switched on the light in the hallway he had just walked out of. It wasn’t much but the light from inside the gym fell into the alleyway and allowed Diego to look at his brother sitting on the ground. He didn't show much of a reaction to Diego at first and only flinched away from the light. 

_He’s probably high as a kite._

Klaus just sat there, his knees drawn up to his chest and his head resting against them. His curls had grown out quite a bit since he had last seen him and obscured his face to an extent that made Diego instinctively feel uneasy. Klaus had always had his tells even though he would claim that this was not the case. This right here was one of those tells. Klaus never hid his face except there was something going on with him that even he didn't know how to react to. 

»Klaus?« He tried again as he crouched down by his brother’s side and put a hand on his shoulder. The gesture was meant to be comforting but instead, Klaus flinched back almost violently before he realized his faux pas and seemed eager to gather his wits. Only then Diego was allowed a look at Klaus’ face and, at the same exact time, he wished he hadn't. »Fuck…« He whispered at the sight of it.

Even in the dim light out here, he could see that his brother’s face seemed completely messed up. Klaus looked as if someone had repeatedly slammed his face into a brick wall until nothing would be left of it. His nose was clearly broken and there was very little Diego would be able to do about that except trying to set it again like Al had once shown him. His lips were pretty much torn open, his left eye completely swollen shut. In fact, the entire left side of his brother’s face seemed way worse than the other side. Maybe it just looked this way in the shadows of the alley. There was blood everywhere on his face and clumped in his messy hair. To assess the real damage done, Diego would need to wash off all the blood and dirt first. He could only imagine that there was much more going on beneath the grime. 

His face was not the only thing that was injured, though. As he took in how his brother sat there on the ground, he could clearly tell the weird way his left shoulder hung from his body. Dislocated. That was something Diego had seen more often than not growing up at the academy. Klaus had had this a few times during their adolescence. When dislocating your shoulder one of two things usually happened: You either puke or you faint. Diego was a puker. Klaus had always been a fainter. So, he had probably lost consciousness in the past hours - whenever this happened to him. Maybe he had hit his head when that happened. 

»Shit!« He added to his previous curse before extending his hand again to Klaus. He was aware of the wild look in his hooded right eye but instead of flinching away again, Klaus allowed his brother to help him to his feet. This turned out to be a mistake as Klaus had clearly also injured one of his ankles. With a small pained gasp, Klaus all but stumbled against him and Diego then made quick work of scooping his much lighter and thinner brother up in his arms before retreating back into the gym. A short while later he had disposited his brother on a bench in the locker room. 

They wanted to set up a bathroom for Diego in the boiler room but for now, he only had the showers and toilets that the gym offered. In the loud neon light of the locker room, his brother looked even worse. His clothes were ripped and disheveled, torn to pieces at some spots. Diego quickly helped him out of his destroyed coat. Underneath he was only wearing a tanktop despite the time of the year. His left shoulder was covered in a painting of dark wilted flowers. 

It looked bad and though it wouldn't be the first time that Diego would set a shoulder he much rather wanted to dump Klaus at a hospital. Neither one of them had insurance, though. And neither one of them had enough money for a hospital visit. His father would be the only option left, of course, but if he would include Reginald on this he would take over the reins and try to force Klaus into rehab or something. Although that was not the worst that could happen to Klaus, it would also mean that his brother would never trust him again - and rightfully so. 

His right ankle didn't look much better than his shoulder. He had twisted it but it would heal just fine. there was no way his brother would be able to stand underneath any shower though. He seemed weak and a bit confused and dazed. His one open eye trailed everywhere, never landing on Diego though. He was either high or dealing with a concussion - or both. It was hard to tell with Klaus. Until now he had not said a single word - which in Klaus’ case was never a good sign. 

»Okay, listen, Buddy.« _Buddy_. Even to his own ears that sounded wrong. »I’m going to reset your shoulder now and that’ll hurt like a bitch. And then I’ll try to fix your nose, right?« Klaus still gave no response to that. »We’ll need to get that shirt off first, though.« Undressing his brother was just odd but it had to be done and Klaus clearly couldn't do it himself right now. In the end, Diego cut the straps of the tank top with one of his knives and the seam of the side so that the fabric would just fall off. Klaus was not even lamenting the loss of his top like he usually would. 

Beneath the top, his whole torso was one big minefield of bruises. Someone had kicked the shit out of Klaus. That was what it looked like, at the very least. For a moment, Diego was terrified that his brother might have suffered one or two broken ribs but as he carefully patted down his ribs he couldn't feel any hints of breakage. 

Setting Klaus’ shoulder was no easy feat but at least he succeeded and Klaus did not pass out. In retrospect, he should have relocated Klaus to the shower first. That way he would have been able to clean up the puke way easier and could have escaped being covered in vomit. The fact that Klaus would not apologize profusely for puking all over his brother was only one more sign of how bad Klaus was doing right now. The nose too was an absolute shit show and had Klaus, who had of all the seven children probably the highest tolerance for pain, crying out in pain and sobbing like a child. He had never heard Klaus making sounds like these. He had never seen him in so much pain.

All that, however, seemed relatively mild in comparison to what followed next.

One might think that taking care of such injuries were the worst that could happen in regards to dealing with a loved one but Diego soon realized that there was always something worse. In this case, undressing his brother completely while the shower in the adjacent room was heating up. It was not the act of undressing Klaus that was so troublesome to Diego either. He had done it before in the past whenever his brother had been too sick to do it himself.

Klaus actually helped this time around as much as he possibly could. It was what he found underneath the clothes that disturbed Diego more than anything else. During his time as a vigilante, Diego had seen a great many fucked up things. He had come across men trying to force themselves upon women, people beating the shit out of homeless people for no reason other than the fact that they were homeless, theft and, above all, murder. All kinds of crap and horrors. But as he saw the bruises around Klaus narrow hips and the blood between his legs in stark contrast to his lily-white skin, Diego Hargreeves almost flipped his shit.

Klaus’ presence here with him was the only thing that was keeping him from flipping out and destroying everything in sight. His brother still seemed so dazed and out of it. There were fresh puncture wounds in the crook of his left arm. He had probably shot up something before all of that had happened to him. He hoped that this was the case because the alternative seemed too horrible now. 

If he had been high before maybe he hadn't had the presence of mind to realize what happened to him. Then again, the drugs might have been just an attributing factor in all of this mess because they had stopped him from fighting back. At least, the hope remained that maybe he had not experienced too much pain under the influence. However, there was always the chance that someone had forced the needle into his skin to have him more pliant and submissive. Why beat him to a bloody pulp then though?

Maybe it was futile to try and see sense in a crime like this.

Diego shoved the bile in his throat aside just like his revenge fantasies against faceless and nameless men as he stripped out of his own vomit-soiled pants and sweater next. Usually, Klaus would have had something to say to this. He would have made a joke. This Klaus right here, however, just allowed his brother to manhandle him into the shower and even rested his forehead against Diego's shoulder as they stood under the warm spray of the shower.

Diego watched idly how his brother’s blood mixed with the water as it swirled down the drain at last. He gave his brother as much time as he needed and only when Klaus breathed out a small sob, Diego fully closed his arms around him, uncaring for the awkwardness of it all. There was not a single person in his family that Diego loved more than Klaus and if it meant holding his brother up so that he could shower, so be it.

※※※※※※※

Klaus was resting on his bed in the corner of his stuffy boiler room apartment. It seemed like there was not an inch of him that was not covered in bandages by now. Diego had almost used up his entire supplies on him tonight and still, that did not make anything better. His brother had not said a word ever since Diego found him and he could only assume that he would continue not to talk about what had happened at the very least when he would wake up the next morning. 

He had always wanted to keep his brother save. Being confronted with the fact that this was an impossible feat like this was just plain awful. His brother had been alone out there, surrounded by wolves and the wolves had torn him to pieces at last just like Diego had always feared they would.

Diego slept on the ground next to the bed this night and when he woke up his brother was for once still there with him. At least he was awake this time. He was lying on his back. That in and of itself was weird to see. Klaus always curled up when he slept. He looked like a cat or a snake almost. Now, he lay perfectly still on his back, his left arm nestled snugly against his chest in a self-made sling, his curls pressed in Diego’s pillow, his injured ankle propped up on a folded blanket, and his one good eye open and staring at the ceiling. At first, Diego was afraid that he was dead but then he noticed the steady rise and fall of his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. 

»How’s the pain?« Diego muttered as he slowly got to his feet only to sit down on the edge of the bed again. Neither one of them was good at this comforting thing. Well, Klaus was, he guessed. Klaus had always made it look so easy when he had gone to each of them to comfort them after a bad day. He would just waltz into the room and crawl into bed with them or just sit in silence or make jokes. Diego, on the other hand, never knew what to say or what to do. He would tense up like he was doing now. It seemed impossible to know what to say in a situation like this. 

»Had worse.« Klaus mumbled quietly. The fact that he was speaking at all served as a relief for him. Of course, his brother’s words were a lie, though. No, he hadn't had been in worse pain. At least he hoped that it wasn’t true because Diego had never seen him this bad and he would never want to see him this bad ever again. »What’s for breakfast?«

It seemed so oddly normal that Diego went out to buy them sandwiches from the corner shop down the street to return to his brother sitting in his bed with a fitness magazine on his lap that he had stolen from Diego’s bedside table. Of course, to look at the half-naked men and not actually read.

To his detriment, Klaus acted as if nothing had happened. He acted as if last night had not happened, as if Diego had not been wrecked by the state of utter shock his baby brother had been in before. As if he had not been beaten to an inch of his life, as if he had not been- He couldn't even think the word. It seemed too horrible and Klaus too unwilling to confront it. They, as a family, had always been great at pushing something down, of ignoring something and acting as if everything was a-okay until it would inevitably bubble up to the surface and destroy everything. 

That was how Ben had died, after all. 

They had all seen that something was wrong with their brother. They had all seen it and decided to do nothing about it. They had seen that he was struggling and they had pushed and pushed and pushed until they had finally pushed him over the edge. For this reason, Diego decided that he would not allow Klaus to ignore what had happened to him this time around. No matter how uncomfortable it was. Hell, what could be more uncomfortable or awkward than having to hold up your own naked and injured brother up in the shower? He sat down on the edge of his bed and gave Klaus his sandwich. His left eye was still swollen badly but with a bit of rest and Diego’s nursing skills, he would soon be able to cause havoc again.

»Tuna?« Klaus muttered as he took the sandwich out of the paper bag. The fitness magazine was soon discarded without a comment to the floor. Diego didn't mind. Someone from the gym had given it to him and he had not yet looked into it anyway. 

»I thought you liked tuna.« Diego shrugged and pulled up his brows. »Or was that Ben?«

»Ben hated fish.« Klaus chuckled. »Sorry, _hates_.« He corrected himself quickly with a glance to the side to something only he could see. Diego was used to it by now and he didn't question it. Even though hearing Klaus speaking of Ben when he knew that Klaus couldn't see ghosts as long as he was on drugs hurt. Maybe because a part of him wanted to believe that Ben was there with them and watching over Klaus. »Says it reminds him a bit too much of the tentacle thingies and stuff. I’m just surprised you remembered my favorite.«

Diego rolled his eyes. »I’m not Luther.« He said biting into his own sandwich. Ham and cheese. Always a good choice. It didn't take long for him to notice that Klaus was more or less just staring at his food, though. »Need help?«

»No … No.« Klaus’ voice had no right to sound so soft. He didn't like it. »Just … thinking.« 

»About what?«

»This and that.« 

_Ask him_ , a voice in the back of his head pleaded. Strangely, it sounded a lot like Ben. _Ask him_. However, as he looked at Klaus, his right eye was pleading with him: _Don’t ask me. Please don’t ask me_. 

He didn't know what to do so he bit into his sandwich again to buy himself some more time. It tasted stale on his tongue. »What happened?« He finally asked but he didn't look at Klaus. He couldn't. The question was maybe too vague and too pathetic but it was the best he could do right now. Klaus would understand. He always did. 

»What do you mean?« Of course, his brother would make this more difficult for the both of them. 

»I mean: What happened. Last night.« And now he did look at Klaus and turned his body completely towards him. Klaus withered a little under the scrutiny but still tried his best to deflect. 

»The usual.« He smirked. »Got into a brawl. Got drunk, got into a fight with a few guys, got my ass handed to me. I am such a rapscallion!« He tried a fake little laugh but it had to sound hollow to his own ears because it died in his throat right away.

»You were raped.« He could taste the bile on his tongue. That word tasted like bile. Klaus seemed to think the same thing judging by the flinch he couldn't suppress. The word was like a slap or a punch to the guts. He hated that word with a passion. Fuck it. He had wanted to become a cop, right? He should be able to have a conversation like this! 

»S-Somebody d-did that t-to you, Klaus.« Oh, that damned stutter! It always came at the wrong moment but he couldn't help it. He tried to swallow it and it got stuck in his throat instead. »A-And I w-want t-to know w-who and w-what h-happened. You o-ow me.«

The noise Klaus made next was the oddest little thing he had ever heard. It was almost a whine, almost a choke, almost a sob. It was an ugly, malformed little thing that seemed so utterly wrong coming from his expressive brother. It sounded like a plea and everything inside Diego told him to give in to that plea and allow his brother a bit more rest. However, if they wouldn't talk about it now, they never would and Diego knew this. He put his sandwich on the nightstand next to Klaus before he quickly moved his entire body into the bed and next to Klaus so that he was wedged between Klaus and the wall. It was a tight fit but it worked and his brother didn't seem to mind. This way, he thought, Klaus would not feel trapped at least. His brother could easily escape from the bed like this if the closeness became too much. 

»Tell me.« He pleaded again with Klaus. »I can't help you if you don't talk.« 

»I don't need help.« He muttered. »Not like it would be the first time.« 

»What do you mean?«

»What do you think I mean?« Finally, his voice changed again. No longer it was soft and so utterly vulnerable. There was anger in it. »I am a homeless junkie, Diego! What do you think what my life fucking looks like? I fucking sell my body to whoever wants it and shoot up poison! And yeah, sometimes the guys I go with are a bit more aggressive than others! So what? Big fucking deal!« 

»It _is_ a big deal, Klaus!« Now he was the one yelling at his brother. He wanted to take his shoulders and shake him. »You were raped! You were beaten so badly you could have died out there! And you act as if it wouldn't mean anything! It does! It always does! No matter how often shit like that happened to you already or not! It always mattered and it always will matter! And I want you to come to me when shit like this happens! I want you to come to me if you really need money! But I will not fucking found your addiction! I am here for you whenever you need me but you will get fucking clean or god help me, Klaus!« 

His brother didn't shrink away from his fury. He made himself just a wee bit smaller at first but after a second or two, Klaus just swallowed thickly before Diego found Klaus’ head on his shoulder. It was all the confirmation he needed until he put his arm around Klaus’ shoulders - mindful of his injuries and the pain he was certainly in. As silence settled over them, he was all but certain that he would not get any more from Klaus right now but his brother surprised him once again.

»He didn't want to pay.« He mumbled close to Diego’s collar bone. »That's about all there is to say. He didn’t want to pay so he beat me up until I was unconscious, took what he wanted, and left me there. That's how things sometimes go.« 

He pulled him tighter against his side as he tucked Klaus’ head under his chin and allowed his eyes to wander through the boiler room. There was a monster in the pit of his stomach and, not for the first time, Diego thought that he knew how Ben must have felt like. He could feel some Lovecraftian monster under his skin, roaring in anguish and fury for his brother, trying to claw its way out of Diego to get revenge on the man who had beaten and raped Klaus and left him for dead in some seedy motel room.

It was the thing Diego had always been the most afraid of ever since Klaus left home. To get the news that someone had found his brother dead like this somewhere. To know that his brother had been alone and afraid and helpless when it had happened. To Diego, it had never been an _‘if it happened’_. It had always been a _‘when’_. It had always seemed inevitable. 

»I’ll teach you how to fight.« Diego decided after a while in which he had just listened to his alarm clock on the nightstand ticking his life away. His brother should never be in a situation like this ever again. hearing of his brother’s gruesome death should never be an inevitable thing Diego was waiting for. It should never be a _‘when’._ It should be an _‘if’_.

»I know how to fight.«

»No.« Diego shrugged. »You know what Dad taught all of us - the bare minimum. I will teach you how to _fight_.« 

**-End of Chapter 4-**


	5. Promises

Diego Hargreeves had spent years listening to the police radio, keeping an ear out for his brother Klaus whenever he was not popping in and out of existence - mostly when Diego could need his brother's presence the least. And although every time he had switched on the police scanner he had prepared himself for hearing something bad about his brother, he had never fathomed how hard it would hit him in the end, when he would truly hear that something bad had happened. He had spent years preparing for the worst-case scenario, for hearing that his brother had been found dead or died at the hospital. Nothing could prepare anyone for the actual thing and Diego had to learn this the hard way.

As the news came, they didn't come at night over the scanner when he would be alone in his boiler room or out in his car somewhere, waiting for an opportunity to put on the domino mask. They came in the middle of a sunny day in August as Diego was sparring with one of the other boxers in preparation of a fight he would have that night. It was Al, his boss, who was the harbinger of bad news as he so often was. 

Not even twenty minutes later, Diego found himself in the lobby of the hospital in downtown, inquiring about his brother with a clearly tired nurse. After that, it was sitting in the waiting area with all those other people waiting for news about their loved ones or friends. It felt like an eternity until some doctor came asking for him. He was equally tired looking as the nurse from the front desk and not at all in the mood to deal with some worried big brother. In the end, Diego was led to a small standard-issue room. To his surprise, there were no other beds in it, giving his brother a semblance of privacy. 

His brother was lying in a simple hospital bed, hooked up to a heart monitor with an oxygen mask pressing down on his face. He looked pale, almost a bit like a ghost. His face was gaunt and he was entirely too thin. He had always been thin - all legs and not much else - but since Diego had seen him last almost half a year ago, he had lost even more of the little fat he had had as it seemed now. He was just skin and bones, a skeleton with an IV drip attached to him. His hair had grown out and hung loosely in his face. Diego, as he sat down on the plastic chair next to his brother, felt compelled to brush the hair out of Klaus’ forehead and try working through the knots. 

»We are not sure if he’ll pull through, Mr. Hargreeves.« The doctor, Tetch, informed him calmly as Diego was seated next to his brother. He didn't even know if he could touch his hand or him more than he already had. The tiniest brush of fingers on skin seemed able to shatter Klaus into a million tiny pieces. Suddenly, he was back on that day at the academy at the tender age of seventeen. Suddenly, he was back to finding Klaus on the floor of his bedroom, lying in his own sick, unsure if his brother was dead or alive. 

»Can I stay with him?« The doctor was experienced enough to know what he really meant to say. _I don't want him to be alone if he doesn’t make it. I don't want him to be alone if he wakes up._

»Yes.« Dr. Tetch answered before he started reciting the litany of drugs his brother had put into his body that caused this almost lethal overdose. No, not _almost_. According to Tetch, Klaus had died twice in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. 

He had never been this bad. Of course, Diego couldn't say this for sure, as rarely as he saw his brother but he had at least never been called to any hospital because of some overdose. Until now, Klaus had never really looked the part of the junkie either. He had been gangly and weird and a bit flamboyant, yes. Now, however, he looked the part. He was the poster child of a heroin addict and Diego hated him for it. For the first time in forever, Diego wanted to call home, call his father or Luther and tell them, ask them to come, ask them to help Klaus, to force him to get clean, to lock him up somewhere. As he sat there and listened to the doctor, he just wanted to punch Klaus in the face. His anger was almost more overwhelming than his worry.

He was sick of seeing his brother in pain or even the verge of death. He was sick of scooping whatever was left of his brother off the floor every other month. He was sick of knowing that Klaus was doing this to himself. 

And still, he clutched his brother’s right hand as it was lying on the mattress with both of his hands and not let it go for the remainder of the day or the following night. He stayed awake until morning, brooding in silence. As the sun rose at the horizon, and his brother’s eyelids fluttered open, his brooding had, at last, come to a conclusion.

※※※※※※※

»Really, Dee?« Klaus groaned as Diego parked his old green car at the side of a busy street. »Rehab? Come on. Been there, done that.« 

His knuckles turned white as he tightened his grip around the steering wheel. His eyes were locked on the building on the other side of the road, refusing to look at his lamenting brother. The rehab facility looked inconspicuous and drab. There was no giant sign telling everyone and their uncle Joe that it was a place for druggies to get better. He was thankful for it in a weird way even though Klaus seemed unconcerned about that aspect of all of this. 

Of course, he wouldn't care about such a thing as well as he didn't care about the fact that he was running around poisoning his body and destroying himself. Next to him, Klaus was fiddling with the hem of his shirt. It was one of Diego’s old police academy shirts. His brother was all but drowning in it. Apparently, Klaus had not been wearing a shirt when he had been found nearly dead on the streets. Sure enough, he had bitched about the shirt being too big and too long and was obscuring too much of his “gorgeous body”. Certainly, he would introduce scissors to it very soon. Not that Diego would care all that much about it, though he wished Klaus would refrain from destroying Diego’s clothes.

»Yes, really.« He ground out and still refused to look at his brother right now. If he would look at Klaus and his stupid face and those pleading green eyes that would implore Diego to have mercy on him, he might just cave. 

This time, he couldn't give in. He had to stay strong. He had decided that he would do this, that he would tell Klaus it was either that or dead silence from now on and he needed to stick to it. After all, Klaus was not only destroying his own life with all of this. He was also destroying Diego’s life, slowly but surely. It was Diego who was spending his nights worrying and listening to the police scanner in terror to hear something about his brother, after all. Not Klaus. No, Klaus was out there, throwing his life away recklessly, running around fucking all kinds of dangerous people and getting utterly wasted. They were twenty-six by now and all of this was no longer cute or funny - not that it had ever been cute or funny. 

»Diego … You know I want to get clean as much as the next guy but … rehab? Really? I was in rehab more often than I could count, Baby. It doesn't stick.«

»Klaus-«

»And I tell you why. So here’s the thing about those rehab facilities where you are forced to stay locked up for a few weeks. Being clean in there, staying sober in there doesn't mean anything. It’s god damn easy. Piece of fucking cake, right? Because in there you are monitored and watched 24/7! Let me tell you, you can't even take a shit without anyone watching, Darling.« 

That surely was a bit overly dramatic but Diego knew that deep down, Klaus had a point and that his logic was not as flawed as others would claim it was. Still, in Klaus’ case, he was just trying to use this very valid point he was making here as an excuse and Diego wouldn't have any of it now. He couldn't do this anymore. Klaus had been released from the hospital this morning and Diego had taken him home first to allow him to rest and get some food into him. And ever since he had been called to the hospital in the first place, the same thought had crossed his mind again and again. He wanted to call his father. He wanted to call Luther. Anyone. Anyone who could help him help Klaus. Hell, he even wanted to call Allison, ask her to rumor Klaus into being clean. 

»So, in there you have all those rules and regulations, you are watched and have a strict schedule. That's good, don't get me wrong. It’s good to have all this when you try to get clean and stay this way. The thing is, however, when you are let go after a few weeks, they throw you out on the streets and there you are faced with the same problems you had before: no roof over your head, no job, no money, no prospects. Because going to rehab does not magically solve those problems, Dee.« He gave a mock little chuckle and a small shake of his head sending his curls flying. Diego couldn't stand to look at him. He knew that underneath all of this mess his little brother was still buried, the same beautiful little brother he had always felt so attached to.

»And then you are back out there in the real world and reality kicks you in the dick like the little bitch she is. And before you know it you realize that you might try all you want to follow the same rules and schedules as at the facility but that it doesn't work like this when you are out on your own on the street, right? Out there you are not going to wake up at six, make your bed, take a shower, brush your teeth, take a dump, go have a rich nutritious breakfast with fruit and what-not, have a nice hot cup of coffee and start your daily routine. When you are fighting to survive you have to follow different rules and whoops before you know it, there's a needle in your arm again.« 

He clenched his fists even tighter around the steering wheel despite the fact that he wouldn't have thought this to be possible. He had valid points and he was not wrong with all of this. Going to rehab would not magically solve his problems. He was still homeless. He still didn't have a job and would most likely not get a chance to get a job and then hold said job. The drugs were not the problem in this case either - not for Klaus anyway. It was his powers getting in the way of life for Klaus. He remembered, when they were kids, how Klaus told him that sometimes it was hard to differentiate ghosts from real people. Sometimes, they were too real. So he would chat with them only to be told that there was no one there. 

»Come on, Dee. You can't tell me I’m wrong because I’m not.«

»No, you’re not.« Diego sighed, his eyes still on the other side of the road. »You are not wrong. So here is the deal. You are going with me and start your program.«

»They have waiting lists.«

»I already called.«

»When?«

»When you were at the hospital.« Diego then admitted and leaned back in his seat to finally look at Klaus. »Right after you woke up. I told them what's up and promised I would bring you as soon as you are recovered enough. I paid a lot of money already - most of my savings. You will go in there and you will stay there until you are being released and then I will come and pick you up and you will live with me and work at the gym until you are able to stand on your own two feet. Al already agreed. He always needs a helping hand.« 

Klaus surprise morphed into something that Diego could not quite place. He started worrying his bottom lip and Diego knew why. This was not just about kicking the drugs. That part was easy. So, he reached over, finally taking his hands off the steering wheel to put a comforting hand on Klaus’ shoulder and squeeze it.

»You can do this. I know you can. And the ghosts … We will figure this out.«

»We?«

»Do you think I leave you alone with this? I’m your brother, Dumbass. I’ll help you whenever you need me. I told you before and I tell you again. I’m here when you need me. And I told those people in there about your situation. Good thing Vanya published that book, huh? Never thought I would say that.« He took a deep breath to steady himself, hoping that Klaus would finally agree.

»Thank you, Diego.«

»Forget it.« Diego shrugged. »But you have to know one thing, Klaus. And I am serious about this. If you don't get better, if you don't work with them, if you leave this place, if you relapse after you got out, that's it. I am done, you hear me? I can't do this any longer, Klaus. I can't- I-I can't g-get calls from the h-hospital any more and f-finding you half-dead or beaten up by someone. It kills me when I don't know if you are okay out there or not.«

»Okay« Klaus whispered. »Okay, Dee.«

»Promise me.«

»I promise, Diego.«

Not a week after he had accompanied Klaus to the rehab facility, he got the call that he had been dreading to get in the middle of the night. This time, he was not leaving his tiny boiler room. This time, he was not running in a wild panic to his car. This time, he turned around in his bed to face a naked wall and promised himself that he would no longer turn on the police scanner to find his little brother. 

**-End of Chapter 5-**


	6. Klaus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be one more part of this series soon to wrap both stories up <3

The intervention had not worked out as planned and Diego blamed himself for it at least partially. They had all seen that something wasn't right with Klaus. Something had been going on ever since the apocalypse that didn't happen. And yes, Klaus had told him about Dave and knowing about his brother - his scrawny little brother - traveling through time, landing his ass in Vietnam during the war in the ’60s, fighting at the front line and falling in love filled him with unending dread and horror. He could have died there. By all means, Klaus probably should have died there all things considered. He was not a person Diego would ever want to see in any kind of war. But Klaus had held his own there and he had managed to come back by some miracle.

And now here they were, standing around uselessly in the front hall of their seemingly ancient family home without a clue what they should be doing about all of this. He should have seen that Klaus relapsed, shouldn't he? He should have seen it. After all this talk about protecting Klaus and being his loving big brother who would always help him out, after all these years of trying to care for him and help him, he had not seen the signs right in front of him. A fine brother he was. 

And suddenly, as he sat down on the steps of the staircase, he was back in the alley behind the gym again, finding his brother beaten up and half dead because some asshole didn't want to pay. The truth was, Diego had never quite recovered from that experience. He would see it when he tried to go to sleep after a terrible evening. He would be holding Klaus up for a shower whenever he was lying in the dark.

»What now?« Vanya sighed and sat down next to him on the steps. She seemed exhausted. Fuck, _he_ was exhausted!

»What now?« Five groaned, parroting the words back to her with no malice. »Now we are going to grab his ass and drag him to the rehab facility I have looked up this morning. Pronto.«

»He won’t like that.« Allison commented dryly.

»He won’t go freely.« Luther agreed with a hum.

»I was not going to ask him.« 

»We can’t just go, grab him and force him into a facility.« Diego finally snapped as he got back to his feet to face his siblings. It wasn't as if he would appreciate Five’s insistence of helping Klaus. He meant well. If only he wouldn't be so clumsy about it. 

»Why not?« If anyone could provoke him even more than Luther it was Five. Five and his inability to see beyond mere facts and logic. Five who had always looked at them and their emotional states like at a math problem. Five who had spent forty years alone in isolation.

»Well, for one because it wouldn't do anything! It wouldn't stick because he needs to choose this himself! And secondly, he is an adult! We cannot legally just drag him there against his will!«

»Come on, Diego!« Five huffed with a roll of his eyes. »You have always been too soft on him! Even now you try to defend him! Stop it with the bullshit already! You are just too afraid that he will never talk to you again if you do that to him! You know what? You are always so eager to tell him how much you care and that you want to help him but if you would really want to help him you would do exactly what I said! You see, _we_ actually wanna help him and not bury him next to Ben in the very near future! We actually care and not just say we do! You, Diego, are a fucking coward!« 

»Oh, so I am a coward now for not kidnapping my brother and forcing him into treatment?« Diego huffed but as he looked at his siblings for backup, he realized that they all agreed with Five. »Oh, that is rich you guys! Where were you anyway all those years? You are all holier than thou now that we are all back together playing superheroes but where were you when Klaus was living on the streets for thirteen years? Where were you when he was beaten up by dealers? You-« He pointed at Allison and she flinched back just a bit. 

»You were living the dream in Hollywood and forgot about all of us!« He turned to Vanya next even though he didn't want to hurt her in any way. » _You_ wrote a fucking tell-all book out of spite! _You_ were here sucking up to Dad! And _you_ were gone because you were too arrogant to listen to Dad! But I was there in the thick of it! Do you have any idea how many times I scraped what was left of him off the floor? I was there when he was at his lowest again and again! I am a coward? Fuck you, Five! I took him to a rehab center! The best that I could fucking afford! I used all my savings up just for him and you know what he did? He just ran away from there! But you know what? Do what you think you need to do and see what happens! What do I know anyway, right?«

Diego didn't wait for any of his siblings to speak up again as he started stomping up the stairs. Initially, he wanted to go to his room - maybe even to Klaus - but as he reached the landing, he noticed his Mom dusting off the lamps and was immediately drawn to her like he was when he was a child. 

»Mom?«

»Oh, hello Diego dear.« She turned around with a bright smile. »I heard you kids argue. Did you have a little fight?«

A little fight. His mother had never been particularly good in realizing the full scope of the little fights they had amongst each other. To her, there was nothing that could not be solved with cookies or a nice long hug. 

»We tried to figure out what to do with Klaus, that's all.« He shrugged. His Mom always promised him the comfort he needed too much. Right now, however, he didn't know if she would be able to spend him much comfort.

»What about him?«

»He relapsed, Mom.« 

»Oh dear.«

»They want to force him to go to a rehab facility and I told them that this wouldn't work on him.« He shrugged as she reached out to brush her fingers softly over his cheek. »I just … I don't know how to handle this. I’ve seen it so often. I still don't know what is right and what is wrong anymore. I mean … he needs to get help, yes but I don't know if forcing him will actually do anything. But not doing anything is not an option either, right? I don't want to- I can't go through all of this with him again. I can't go on continuing to worry about him, to not knowing if he’s still alive out there or what is happening to him.«

»Then I would advise you to go and tell him that, Dear. I am sure your brother feels terribly sorry for disappointing all of you like this. Go and reach out to him. He won’t push you away.« There was a part of him that wanted to argue with her that it was not that easy when it came to Klaus and his addiction. She was right, though. He knew that Klaus wouldn't push him away. He was probably scared to get kicked out again. He had probably been scared to be found out by his siblings and their reaction to it. He was probably too afraid to reach out to any of them now.

So, Diego leaned closer to his mother and kissed her cheek before drawing away. »Thank you, Mom.« She smiled even brighter before turning back to her work and leaving Diego to go to their bedrooms.

Walking to their rooms felt like walking into war, though. There was something tugging at his stomach, like a feeling that something was going to happen as soon as he would find Klaus. Well, that feeling was not new at all. It always seemed like a toss of the dice when it came to looking for Klaus. It was either disaster waiting for him or the same happy-go-lucky Klaus he always seemed to portray to the world - forgetting that Diego knew him better than this.

A strange thick silence lay steadily over the corridor on which their rooms were located. Klaus’ room was right beside his own and the door was wide open. That, of course, did not mean anything. Klaus usually left his door wide open because he was craving attention so much - any kind of attention. His siblings liked to claim that Vanya was the forgotten one but although this might be true, Klaus had been just as invisible. So invisible, in fact, that Klaus had been forced to act up, to be louder than anyone else, to be more obnoxious than anyone else. Negative attention was better than no attention at all.

As Diego stepped into Klaus’ bedroom he was greeted with silence and something very cold brushing over him like an icy wind. Klaus’ room had always been cold as a freezer. It was because of the ghosts, Klaus had once explained to him. Ghosts radiate the cold and they were drawn to him because he could see them, because he was alive and warm. They tried to suck the warmth out of him, the life, maybe his very soul. He was not in his room, though. For some strange reason, however, Diego stayed a moment longer instead of turning and searching for his brother. It was almost as if some sort of force was dragging him further into Klaus’ den until he stood next to his desk that was buried under a mountain of unfolded laundry. Klaus’ trashcan had always been overflowing with paper where he had scribbled and doodled stuff but now it was empty. Empty except for a syringe lying in it. 

»Oh, come on.« He breathed quietly. Knowing his brother, he was probably in the bathroom taking a bath. That always seemed to calm Klaus more than anything else could beside the drugs. The strange cold presence stayed with him as he walked back into the corridor though and it seemed to follow him as he trudged towards the bathroom. No, not following - leading. _Ben?_ , he thought idly. It could be Ben.

None of them had yet grown accustomed to having Ben around again when Klaus was sober enough to conjure him. Knowing that he was with them always was sometimes almost comforting but now it creeped Diego out because it felt like the foreboding of something bad to come. He rapped his knuckles sharply on the bathroom door. 

»Klaus? You in there?« He was greeted with silence once more. Of course, it could be that his brother was simply pissed off by his siblings - or something worse than this. »Hey, can I come in?« Something seemed to tuck on his arm in urgency and so he knocked again, louder this time. »Okay, I’ll come in now whether you like it or not!« 

Klaus never locked the door and he hadn't done so now. As Diego opened the door he was greeted with the smell of vomit biting sharply in his nose. He almost gagged at the sight before him. Klaus was lying on the tiles, naked with his legs still over the side of the tub. He was completely still, vomit clinging to his pale face. And just as Diego stood there staring at his brother, he knew that Klaus was dead. He was too still. His chest was not moving, his mouth hung open, his eyes were closed. And he was so fucking still. There was no life left in him. Nothing at all. 

Diego could feel the scream building up in the back of his throat because that was what he wanted to do. He just wanted to scream at the sight before him but instead, he stumbled forward and it was like walking through quicksand. The floor was pulling him in as he sank to his knees and quickly pulled Klaus completely away from the bathtub. His legs fell to the ground with a sickening little sound as there was no strength, no life left in them. 

As he went to work, he did so without thinking about it. He couldn't be thinking about it as he shoved his fingers into Klaus’ mouth to clean away the last remainders of vomit. He couldn't be thinking as he started pushing down on his chest, counting in his head to drown out the screaming and ringing in his ears. He couldn't be thinking as he placed his mouth on his brother’s to push air into his lungs. He just worked like a man devout of all sanity even though he knew that it was futile, even though he knew that there was nothing that could be done.

Somewhere behind him, he heard a high-pitched horrified blood-curdling screech followed shortly by another. He didn't care or turn to look at what was happening. The chaos around him had no meaning. He just needed Klaus to breathe again. He needed to continue this even if it would take him hours to see just the tiniest twitch. 

»-go! Diego!« The words spoken in a booming voice were of no importance and neither was the wailing that came from the doorway. »Diego, please!« The voice sounded almost desperate now before there was a large hand grabbing him by the shoulder. »Please, Diego!« Luther. Of course, Luther wouldn't understand. But Luther was there on the ground beside him as Diego looked over his shoulder for just a second. In the doorway, Allison held Vanya. Both his sisters looked ready to pass out. Five, however, just stood there, staring blankly at the scene in front of him.

»Please, Diego…« Luther tried again and as the world became clearer again, he saw the moisture in Luther’s eyes as his brother reached out to him to pull him away from Klaus. »He’s dead, Diego.« His voice was so silent and soft as he said those words as if they held any truth in them. His head was spinning. »Please, stop … He’s dead. He’s dead.«

There was nothing he could do. He wanted to push Luther away as his brother pulled him into his arms. They had never hugged. Not once in their life. The closest they came to hugging was whenever Luther had felt the need to restrain his wilder and more rebellious brother. But now they did. Now Luther held him as if his life depended on it and now Diego buried his fingers in the soft material of Luther’s sweater. The world was still spinning. The ringing in his ears was still there. The cold presence beside him was still tugging on him desperately. And Klaus was still dead. 

Nothing made sense.

※※※※※※※

Five would claim that it was not healthy for him to be sitting in the medical bay for such a long time. Five would claim that he should get cleaned up and take a nap or grab something to eat. He would say it in this cold, dry voice of his and in this matter-of-fact tone as if they had not just lost one of their own in such a horrible way.

He would never be able to ever set foot into the bathroom again without the image of his brother dead on the floor going through his mind.

Even hours later, Diego still expected Klaus to open his eyes and act as if nothing had happened. 

»Diego?« Vanya demanded his attention as she stopped in the doorway. As he looked at her, Vanya's eyes were trained on the body that was hidden underneath a white sheet. Mom had cleaned him up nicely after Luther had carried him here. For hours, Vanya had been in hysterics, the house shaking underneath her flaring emotions until Pogo had given her something to calm down. The world had shifted. It was no longer in the right orbit. Diego could feel the wrongness of all of this. He had lost him. At last, he had lost him. And now he felt as if he was missing a limb. »Are you coming down?« She whispered then. »We have to … We have to discuss what we want to do now.« 

»No.«

»It's important.« Vanya urged him again, still as timid as a mouse. »We … We really need you, Diego. You knew him the best … You would know what he would have liked.« 

»He would have liked to have a big fucking party.« Diego shrugged. »He would have liked to be put on display and have strippers and loud music on his wake. And then he would have wanted to be burned and strewn all over the city. That's what he would have wanted but that is not what he is gonna get, right?«

Because that was not how their family was functioning. Klaus would find his final resting place next to Ben and that was that. He wouldn't even get a statue or a painting because the old man was dead and none of them could be bothered to commission something like that for him. 

»Diego-«

»You don't need me down there, Vanya. In fact, you guys are better off without me. I would just start fights with everyone. Just leave me be.« He lowered his gaze again onto the figure underneath the sheet as he expected Vanya to actually go now. His sister managed to surprise him though as she instead came over to him and Klaus. Her hands hovered uselessly for a moment before she took a deep breath and pulled the sheet back to reveal Klaus’ pale face. 

»I don't like it when he lies there like this … with a sheet covering his face.« Vanya explained quietly. Klaus looked like a ghost. All the blood seemed to have been drained from him. His lips were without color, his eyes seemed sunken in. He had lost all softness to his face. »He has always been so pretty. I was jealous when we were younger. Silly, I know, but I was. I thought it was so unfair that he gets to look like this and has such cool powers while I look like a mouse and have no powers at all. Back then I didn't realize how hard it was for him or why he was throwing his powers away when I was so desperate to get powers of my own. I think that I still don't fully understand him.«

»No one did.« Diego muttered. »Probably not even Ben.« 

Silence settled over them for a second or two before Vanya reached out and brushed a few strands out of Klaus’ face. »I didn't know that you tried to get him into rehab before.« 

»He was in rehab more often than I can count.« Diego shrugged. »But I was naive enough to think that if I was paying for it, he would actually stick to it this time. I should have known better. I invested the last bit of my money in his treatment and he blew it still. And I told him-« He needed to breathe. Sometimes he forgot that he actually needed to breathe. 

»I told him that I would no longer help him if he blows this chance. And I … God, I helped him so often. While you guys were living your best life, I was there scraping him off the floor, treating his wounds, beating up anyone who dared to hurt him. I was there when … When he was so badly beaten that he had to be held up to take a shower. And I did that. I took care of him. I held him up under the shower, cleaned his wounds, fed him and made sure he was safe and warm and … and now he’s dead. He’s dead and I wasn't there. I was too busy arguing with you guys. I wasn't there on time.« 

His tears had long dried up but his eyes were still burning and although his throat was hoarse and raw, he still wanted to scream and yell and punch things. Klaus was dead and it was not fair that he was dead. He had no right to be dead. 

»I’ll tell them to give you space.« Vanya finally spoke up again after a while. There was no smile on her face but he was still grateful for it as she left. As Vanya left he was back with the silence and the clock ticking on the wall. Alone again with his dead brother just lying there as if it meant nothing at all. 

»I hope you are happy now.« Diego mumbled quietly. »I hope this is what you wanted to achieve.« It was meant as a quip at his brother but it sounded probably too sincere. Yes, he hoped his brother was at peace now. He really hoped that, wherever Klaus was now, he was happier there than he had ever been in life. Maybe he was with Dave now. He hoped he was with Dave now. At least then his brother would be happy, right? He had failed to keep him safe and happy in life, at least he deserved to be happy now with the man he loved. 

»I’m sorry.« He whispered into the silence of the room. »I am sorry that I couldn't do more. I am sorry that I couldn't save you. And now … Now what? How can I make it up to you? How can I make this better?«

He couldn't. He knew that he couldn't make this any better now. Klaus was dead and there was nothing that he could do about it. He could just sit here and stare at his brother and watch him decay until someone would take him away from Diego to bury him. 

Vanya was right, this was not good. This was not healthy. He had to get out of this room now. He had to be far away from Klaus’ dead body. It was making him sick to see him like this. Finally, and with shaking legs, he got up from his chair to step around the bed Klaus was resting on. A part of him wanted to put the sheet back over him but then he could not bring himself to do it. Klaus had always been afraid of the dark. Instead, he walked away from Klaus.

»I’m sorry.« The sound of the thin, raspy voice coming from behind him almost made him flinch. He was sure that he was just imagining things, that he had turned crazy from the shock and horror of losing his brother like this. As he whipped around, Klaus’ eyes were still closed and he looked exactly like Diego had left him. He had imagined hearing his voice. Certainly. »I’m sorry.« 

His lips were moving, weren't they?

»Klaus?« No, he was dead. He died. 

»I met Dave.« 

※※※※※※※

It was a miracle. A complete and utter miracle. At least for Diego and most of the rest of their family. For Five it was just fascinating. As the news broke that their brother had come back to life, he made Pogo hook Klaus up to all kinds of machines to study his brainwaves and his general physique and Klaus was just too tired to do anything about it. 

»Impossible!« Five gasped as he looked at the readings of his latest test. They were going about this for hours now. Outside it was dark and Klaus looked exhausted. A part of Diego was afraid that Klaus would die again if he would close his eyes to sleep. »Look at this! No damage at all to his body! Nothing! He should be at least braindead - well, more than usually - but nothing! And look at his fucking organ readings! I was surprised to see him when I came back and see that he still has all his teeth and stuff but his organs too are healthy as a newborn's! He was on drugs for seventeen years but it's like he never even smoked or drank a pint of alcohol!« 

»Stop treating him like a guinea pig!« Diego groaned.

»Don't you want to know what's going on with him?« Five shot back unimpressed. 

»Apparently, I’m immortal, that's what's going on.« Klaus murmured much too calm for someone who had died violently and then come back. »Would be nice too if it would stop me from aging. I don't want to be an immortal old grouchy man one day. I’d prefer to stay pretty, please.« 

»The old man would have had a field day with this.« Luther mumbled. 

»Good thing _he’s_ not immortal then. He would have killed me over and over again to see what kind of shit I can come back from.« 

He shouldn't have said that. Diego immediately saw the spark in Five’s eyes now that his brother seemed to have found a new thing he might be able to obsess over. »Okay, that's enough now, Five.« Luther decided and pulled Five away from Klaus’ side. »At least give him a moment to rest, okay? Let's go get pizza for everyone.« 

Five was not a fan of that idea and yet he allowed Luther to manhandle him out of the room until it was just Diego and Klaus. And, a part of him, wanted to escape too. This whole situation was suddenly so uncomfortable and weird and he didn't know what to say.

»You said you met Dave.« Diego sighed after a while and took a seat next to him again. So much had happened in just a few hours. He felt like he was getting whiplash from it. »Why did you come back?« 

»He … I don't know.« Klaus sighed and he sounded so earnest that it almost pained Diego. Only now he realized that Klaus would have wanted to stay dead. »He told me that it wasn't my time yet. He told me that I needed to let him go to move forward. I guess I finally listened to someone else for the first time, huh?« 

»Don't do this ever again, okay?« Even to his own ears, his voice sounded thick and pained and wrong. »You’ll get your shit together now and get better or else I will cut off your head and put it in a fishbowl and put you in Luther’s room so that you can watch him and Allie have sex until you learned your lesson.« 

Klaus gave a small chuckle and then he surprised him as he reached out to him. He allowed Klaus to put his hand in the back of his neck and pull him down until Diego’s forehead came to rest on Klaus’ shoulder. For a moment, Diego allowed himself to relax, to close his eyes and breathe in his brother’s scent. He was still stealing Diego’s shampoo. 

»I’m sorry, Dee. I didn't mean to scare you.«

**-End of Chapter 6-**


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